[Aardwolf]

But wasn't it already bumped once from the retail value?

[niffiwan]

But wasn't it already bumped once from the retail value?

yeah - Inferno builds (now standard of course)

[fightermedic]

if so, wouldn't that suggest that the change is rather painless?

[m!m]

Not really, Inferno builds were incompatible mainly because the pilot files were not compatible with standard builds but there were also issues with the multiplayer code which may break if we increase the maximum number of ships.
The new pilot code should be able to handle a bumped limit but other parts of the code could be affected and this would need some effort to get right.

[asyikarea51]

I forgot, but ship templates counted to the limit too... do they still?

[Goober5000]

Ship templates don't work, and they aren't even functional in the code right now anyway.  So you can just remove them if you need a few more slots.