Creating a new game with real stars off and a maximum number of systems set works as long as the maximum number of systems is greater than the maximum number of jump points in a system. I'd suggest trying a new game with ~25 maximum systems and seeing what happens.
An explanation:
It is possible to have more unexplored jump points than there are maximum systems. In that case several jump points will end up leading to the same location. In Aurora jump links and new systems are only created when a jump point is explored. When that happens, Aurora rolls a random number between [min star] and [max star].
Assuming a game was started without using real stars:
By default, [min star] = (System_# - local_distance) if a local generation, minimum/else 1.
By default, [max star] = (system_# + local_distance) if a local generation, maximum/else Max_Systems.
If the randomly generated system number does not exist Aurora will generate a new system. If the number was already in use Aurora creates a new jump link to the old system. If the system is already connected to the rolled number, Aurora re-rolls. I don't know what will happen if you create a game where the maximum number of systems is smaller than the number of jump points in a single system.
If you want a game with < 20 total systems you probably will want to create the universe manually in SM mode or else the cross connections will cause everything to end up only one or two jumps from everything else.