Each category focuses on slightly different aspects of the game. This guide is designed for runners looking for a new category.
Here are the basic differences between ''game modes'': Career: Progress through the game with limitations of cost, part count, weight, orbit tracking, and tech. Build crafts quickly from memory. Early game can be rough. Incorporates many game mechanics. Science: Like Career without part count or weight limitations, which may be exploited. Collect more science to make up for no payout from contracts. Generally the least developed, so it has potential for routing. Sandbox: Design and refine crafts ahead of time instead of memorizing and quick building for better consistency and more complex designs (note part count affects game performance). Choose launch time to use specific transfer windows. Generally the fastest.

Here is a summary of what makes each category unique:

Career 100%: The ultimate long-duration category (7h), planning and routing, craft-building, memorization, note-taking, science, flag-planting (stable landers and no splash-down)

Career Glitched 100%: medium-long duration (4h), optimized actions

Career All Round Trips: Similar to 100%, less science-collecting, fewer contracts, different landings from 100%, long-duration (6h)

Sandbox All Round Trips: Refine crafts by doing IL runs. choose transfer windows, over-engineer crafts. Quicker than Career (4h), no quick-building, but otherwise similar variety.

Sandbox Mun & Back RTA: Optimize craft and inputs, emphasis on launch and suicide burn, pleasantly fast-paced (2m)

Career Mun & Back RTA: Optimize missions and menuing, fast building, good variety of skills needed, re-entry glitch, medium-short duration (10m), depends on computer performance (load times and physics warp), depends on version

Mun Landing: crash-landing glitch, shortest category (1m)

Sandbox Mun & Back IGT: giant craft with chosen thrust and delta-v, pausing for quick calculations, a lot of waiting, less emphasis on reaction time

Sandbox Mun & Back IGT w/ glitches: small craft with high thrust, emphasis on reaction time and precision

Career Mun & Back IGT: grind science and contracts (science car), then similar to Sandbox Mun & Back with limitations

Tech Tree: Science Lab abuse, possibly different for Career, medium duration (1.5h)

Island Express: high-speed atmospheric rocket with suicide burn or parachute, popular Reddit challenge, possible infinite fuel glitch time save

Career All Encounters: simple craft with early tech, orbital mechanics, interplanetary transfer, and transfers around Jool, medium duration (1.5h) (post on Discord if you're interested so we can make this a category)

All Orbits or All Landings: (too similar to All Round Trips)

IL categories are more obscure, and can be useful for All Encounters practice. They each emphasize surprisingly different game mechanics: Moho Encounter: tricky transfer, reasonable delta-v Moho: technical rendezvous-like transfer, delta-v intensive, relatively high-gravity landing Eve Landing: low delta-v, no inclination, harsh entry, easy touch-down with parachutes, purple Eve Round Trip: infamously technical, high delta-v, high-gravity landing, aerodynamic stability during descent and ascent, dependent on landing site Minmus: like Mun & Back, emphasis on transfer Duna: simple transfer, low delta-v requirement, parachute-assisted suicide burn Dres: notably average, reasonable challenge, includes a quick return window Jool Orbit: easy encounter, dependent on high-energy transfer, somewhat boring Eeloo: challenging encounter, dependent on transfer window and high-energy transfer Jool 5 Encounter: applicable to All Encounters, diverse orbital mechanics, rendezvous-like transfers, some randomness and improv, medium-short duration (20m) Jool 5 Orbit: applicable to All Round Trips, route-planning Jool 5 Round-Trip: well-known challenge, relevant to All Round Trips, challenging craft design and mission planning, medium duration (1.5h), good variety, scenic Career Mode ILs: Extension to Career Mun & Back RTA, potential for unique Career routing for some destinations (Jool 5, Eve), medium duration speedrun