The faction limit is still present, hardcoded, and stuck at the old number.

What you have there are remnants of things that might have been, but were never finished. 21 factions are all you can have, and there are already 21 in the list. Trying to add more will just result in frustration and CTD's.

This was confirmed by our friendly neighbourhood CA man, Jerome, so it has come from the most reliable source going. Don't waste your time with this....really.