Admin Strategeries - Never used them; is a mid-level career too late to start?

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

I've read a bunch of circa 2015 posts on strategies (and ways to farm funds) from way back when.  There's not a lot of current info.  With so many changes - I'm sure those old things are not still the best strategeries today.

So - I'm at a mid-tech level and can't progress w/o funds to upgrade R&D.  I've completed all of the contracts I've attempted, have a few active, and feel I can do most of what is needed currently... but progress in gaining funds is slow.  It would be nice to get a bit more juice for the squeeze.  And to be able to upgrade the R&D to get a mining complex set up on the Mun.

Runway, LaunchPad, Mission Control and Tracking Station are fully upgraded.  VAB, SPH and R&D are all level 2.

 

Is it too late to start messing around with Admin?  I've got a good rep (Assuming, b/c I've never rejected / failed a mission).  I know grinding is part of the game, but would like to get past this particular hump.

Thoughts?

[Superfluous J]

First to answer your title: No it's not

I assume you have far more science and rep than you do Funds. In that case, you should upgrade the admin building to level 2 and take the two strategies that convert rep and science to funds, at 40-49% each. Don't go to 50 or over because there used to be - and I think still is though I'm not 100% sure - that there was a bug and they were acting twice, so 50% became 100% and if you went over 50%

There's a weird bug (or misfeature at best) that one of those two strategies becomes disabled if you enable the other one. I never remember which is the "bad" one so I suggest you make a quicksave, try to enable both of them, and if enabling the first greys out the second one, restore from your quicksave and enable them in the other order.

This will give you a LOT more funds at the expense of Rep (which is basically useless and far better spent getting something else) and Science (which you likely have enough of, and will still continue to get enough of even with this strategy).

[AHHans]

Which strategies to use when depends a lot on your play style! If you don't screw up too badly (and need to sell of your science to finance the next mission) then they don't make or brake a game. So if you feel that they might make the game a bit less grindy for you, then go ahead!

Rep isn't completely useless: if you don't have enough of it, then you won't get three-star contracts. But once you have enough to get some three-star contracts offered, then getting more doesn't do anything in the game. So quite early in the game I tend to use the strategy that converts incoming reputation to funds. But in the late game when I have everything upgraded and unlocked the whole tech-tree then I use the strategies that convert incoming science and funds to reputation. (Mostly just for excrementss and giggles. It just doesn't make a real difference, late game career is essentially sandbox with contracts.)