EDIT: @ Thadian, is it rewarding to settle the jungle cities of Polynesia in Civ4 RFC? I can't imagine the benefits to be higher than the costs. Or are you speaking of Indonesia? I guess that this region would be an interesting place for a civ to oppose Siam/Khmer, as long as its eastwards and Australian expansion is cut off by Papua-New Guinea Barbarians
Yes, Indonesia but sometimes i take hawaii itself - now im more clear on why polynesia is difficult.
Yes, those pacific islands have a lot of luxuries and about 3 big cities in the islands + 2 in asia usually keeps you strong against all fronts.
I always wished for natives in civ 4, maybe turning Iriquouis into Lakotta or Sioux or Anasazi to have a good native cultural civilization. that whole debate aside, you normally didn't pay money to buy hiawatha seperately from the other civ's so there was no real loss.
I think there is sooooo much potential in Civ 5 RFC that i want to play it quite a bit.
To answer you, i would start them in hawaii, give them X turns to build X settlements on X islands, expand the land slots of a few islands to make them a little more feasable (and to discourage auto-indonesia settlements). the second goal once "unified" would be to fend off a foreign invasion and the third - to establish a cultural point goal. to overcome their challenge in history, they would have needed to fight off a foreign invasion and develop a culture that is unappealing to foreigners while trading for secrets and technology.
In real life, they should have pulled a viking-esque stint - conquer wake island to use as waypoint to alaska to get timber during the summer months. it was a lack of protien and a lack of lumber that caused them to be disadvantaged in their growth.
Any "Survivor" scenario would have the nice feel of the inca or aztec from civ 4 RFC where you need to "overcome your historical collapse" rather than "conquer the world". i read about the polynesian culture quite a bit lately, and the building of the stone heads and while it was not a civilization, It's a culture group that behaved in a successful way for hundreds of years until they were unable to continue. when it became unsustainable, they failed to overcome adversity.
That said, ive also always favored the idea of changing a less practical civ to a more practical replacement if meritable and viable.
While these civilizations did not survive or make a mark on our age of human - or on our culture does not mean they were not important people who did wonderous things for their limitations.