Two game modes I’ve been thinking about, because they would be fun and (often) necessary.
- A type of contest for recons, only for those who warp. The target is to warp in open space and land at a certain point, visible from all over the map. It would be an object, so that if you crash into it, you die. If you die, the penalty would be harsh, meaning you loose a number of tries (5, out of 20?). Around it, there would be some circles with several sizes, from close to large. Maybe 4 or 5 circles, similar to a sniper’s target practice paper. Or similar some how to the darts circles, where you try to hit the centre with arrows.
So, when you start, you have to be outside of the circles and do your best to land exactly on the centre, with an allowed space of…10 (?)m. Everyone would have 10 or maybe 20 tries, and you get points according to the circle you landed in. The closer you are to the centre, the more points you get, and so on. There should also be a small warp gate to take you back to the starting point. Or simply more engi warp gates, as 5.000m would be enough help to get back, to try again.
So after 10-20 tries, the pilot with the most landings “on spot” wins. He can get iridium
Similarly to the Tournaments, a weekly contest could be done (on Sundays?) where the prizes would be double and places 1-3 get blueprints ”)
- A coaching club, before the actual fight club.
What is this and why would it be useful?
Theory first, practice after, some say. Starting from this, the idea is to have a new menu where veteran pilots teach the new ones lots of things:
a - how weapons work, how to choose them, what to mix and what not to mix;
b - ships - how to fit them, what modules to mix, how some modules help the weapons and so on;
c - tactics, tactics, tactics. How to think, how to form a strategy, how to play beacons or bomb plants in order to be efficient. Tactics about sector conquest, that’s a lot of room for learning!
d - dog-fights. The basics of a dogfight, when to enter one, when to avoid one, when to exit.
e - PvP training. Simple as that.
f - seed-chips advice? 
There would be several levels of coaching, where every vet can choose to teach: from level 1 to level … 5? The higher the level, the more complex and advanced.
In order for this to be realistic, there would be a few levels of payment. Every vet can choose if he does it for free, or for GS. If he chooses cash, then level 2 would cost … 100gs / hour, level 5 …1.000 gs / hour? Obviously, these are just some examples.
I know the concept of space exploration means discovering things on your own, but still, lots of corps don’t have officers that coach the newcomers, so I think this would be helpful.
Cheers!