If after (x min) DL speed is < (y) then max active torrent downloads++

[chianti]

Clearly the intent in limiting the number of downloads (well, the primary in my case) is so that the active downloads trasfer faster and complete faster. That being said, I've been stuck in situations where one of my downloads had very few seeders, and most of my available BW was being wasted by it holding up one of the slots.

That's why I suggest this feature request. I dont know where you would implement it, but the logic is simple:

If after (x minutes) dl-speed is less than (manual input or global setting), then activate the next item in the queue. So if your max simultaneous downloads is say... 5, and your global settings limit download rate to 1000, if after (x minutes) you arent at 1000, a sixth torrent is activated... the next one in queue.

[GTHK]

Have you tried looking at the advanced queue.* settings? They'll start more torrents up but if you're not careful it can scale out of control quickly.