How to make bitcoind connect to more nodes? Let's say I have a dedicated server just for my bitcoind and for better reliability and some security reasons I want it to be connected to a much bigger number of nodes than it is willing to do by default (about 40-50).

Providing that I have enough resources, how can I set my bitcoind to keep a specific number of connections to other nodes? Is this possible without recompiling it?

Note: there's a maxconnections option which sets the upper bound, but it doesn't seem bitcoind strives to reach it. Need to kick it off somehow.
Bitcoind will never make more than 8 outgoing connections. By default, it will allow up to 128 connections (see -maxconnections), but that includes incoming ones.

Available connection slots of fully synchronized nodes are a limited resource on the network, so they shouldn't be wasted. As long as you have enough connections to be sure that at least one is not trying to attack you, you should have enough.