Yep, and it is a bit of a minor issue to be hidden so far back in the settings.

Also it's annoying to have to click many times to get to a substantial number there. I kinda sorta maybe think I remember I found a easier way than 1K clicks back in the day but I'm apparently not as smart anymore and can't figure it out again.

You need to preset the limitations on the game setup..... another way to beat the system is to capture ships beyond your build limit (the only limitation is the size type and that you may need to re-fit them). the approx boarding crew ratio is about 25 Boarding Party STRENGTH per crew quarter.....for 100% success.

there is hardcoded limit of 65536 (2 bytes->2^16) objects total for all players!. That include ships, planets, stars, warp points, deployed separate minefield/fighter/drone stacks & etc.