All I'd consider, as with anything I'm proposing, is providing the option to use more holds, increasing the capacity of edited ships, but not stock ships. The limit of 255 is a field size limit, but with a bit of effort, it could probably be overcome.

That said, it's far from trivial. It's hard to comprehend what it's like working in a codebase from the early 90s that traces some of its roots back to 1986. You suggest 100K to 10 million sector maps as if it's just a matter of choice. There are many things to consider. In the case of holds, changing from a byte to a word field involves touching a LOT of code, and the chance of breaking something is pretty high.

SO THATS A NO... NO MAS HOLDS..?..... EVEN A EVEN 300 WOULD WORK. i'M ASKING NICELY B4 YOU MAKE UP YOUR MIND.
tHANKS IN ADVANCE, CORP DU2 ( MISBEHAVIN, SPYHUNTER MUSS, TRADER VIC, ZIP, ZND ME RAPTOR) iF THINGS MUST EVO;\LVE THEN WHY CANT GAMING AS WELL?

The path setting can be adjusted to reduce the need
for big holds. But yes, in some games you need a tpad
to grid effectively.