I’ve been thinking on something since the game launched and I’d like to see what you guys think.
I think Mapuche shouldn’t be the only one to be in the Andes map and there should be a replacement for the Incas, specially as the loading map shows it going from Colombia all the way to Chile passing through most of Peru and Ecuador, and Mapuche are mainly located in Chile, in the south. It seems to me that Mapuche should be just one of the natives appearing on Andes but not the only one, and they should be the only one to spawn (or spawn heavily) on Araucania, for example. In The Warchiefs, all three native civs that became playable had a replacement, so I think Incas should have one too. Huari could be a good choice, as they were the only other empire in South America before the Incas and they are already mentioned in the map description. They were a military empire that are known for their mountain fortifications, so they could have technologies to boost your troops forces and your buildings.
Also, I have a question about Andes - Upper. The changelog (https://www.ageofempires.com/news/aoe3de-baseline-update/) says that inca minors are present in the map because they play an important role in the ‘Treaty’ game mode. What role is that exactly? I’ve never played that map before so I’m really asking. Are their impact so big that they need to stay as a minor settlement rather than replacing them with mapuche or giving them a replacement? I’d point out that I like you changed the buildings to be the new ones, that was cool, and you can still use them with a new andean native!
So I’d like to know what you think. Do you feel that only Mapuche appearing on Andes is kinda odd? Should Inca have a replacement? What other civ work besides Huari? Maybe Muisca?
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You’re right about alot of your points, including the fact that previously minor tribes were changed or at least renamed when they became major playable civilizations. I wouldn’t be against renaming the minor Inca tribe even if the techs and units remain the same.
The reason it was kept in Andes - Upper for Treaty is because the Treaty meta has evolved around the Andes map and subsequently the natives on the map. The units are quite strong and the tech for faster military training also has a not insignificant effect on treaty. With this evolved meta in mind, the devs decided to make a second Andes map specifically for treaty (Andes - Upper) with cliffs and minor native placement that is conducive to fair map balance for TR games (which have all adopted “halfmap” rules and generally accepted starting fight locations).
I’m not saying Treaty could not further evolve around new map/native options. I hope it does, in fact. It is true, though, that just like the competitive map pool has evolved around already developed meta over time, Treaty accepted map pools have similarly evolved. For the devs, I imagine they made a somewhat small sacrifice in the name of keeping a decent sized section of players happy with the remaster. It was a good move to ensure widespread adoption of DE.
Once again, though, I don’t see why not at least rename the Inca minor tribe. There’s plenty of precedent for that.
I’ll let others talk about the other ideas you discussed as I don’t have much of an opinion. 
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Thanks for replying. I really think is a big oversight they haven’t done it, and I would like to ask the devs if they are planning to add one or leave it just like it is. If any dev here is thinking now the game is out it is too late, it isn’t, you can patch it in and not leave them in a weird spot. There are many options for a new minor tribe? Huari being my go to choice but it could be anyone from the andes, and I really think a new settlement would be well received.
I don’t think it’s too out of the ordinary in history for a city or settlement to team up with an force opposed to the greater empire. (maybe in hopes to have a better seat at the table after the war is over or just some major grievances with their rulers) At least for me, I wouldn’t be opposed to re-adding Aztec, Lakota, and Haudenosaunee to the map pool as minor civs. In a way, it kind of says, ‘this is the Inca’s home map!’ and, personally, I think that’s pretty cool. Just a different perspective. Consistency through out the game is my priority with my posts and suggestions, and it is weird Inca would be the only minor and playable civ. It also doesn’t match their track record on how they deal with new native civs.
That is true, but it is also true for Aztecs and Haudenosaunee, and they did receive a minor replacement. Adding them back would be a solution but with you’d have a problem with Huron (similar unit to the haude one), and it wouldn’t be consistent, as you said.
Another problem, is that , being the Incas home map, it have Mapuche people, that never went that far north and weren’t even part of the people of the empire, like Huari or other ethnic groups were. Mapuche fought against incan invasion in the south, near Chile, not in the territory the loading screen shows you the map takes place, more like Colombia/Ecuador/Peru.
It is important to know that inca people were not the only ethnicity of the Incan Empire, and many other peoples participated in the empire’s management and military activities, which is represented in the inca civ with Ashaninka archers and Chimu runners, for example. There are more natives in the Andes region that Mapuche, who honestly should appear in less numbers in Andes and almost exclusively in Araucania among other maps.
Also, why does Zapotec appear in the Amazon and Orinoco map? They never went to South America, they should only appear in mesoamerican maps. Is it because a misunderstanding that all jungle civilizations are the same, so it doesn’t matter if a north american tribe appears in south america? At least Tupi would make more sense, as they are from that continent, but Muisca could be a great new settlement for south american jungle maps.
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There would likely have to be some changes to what they were like originally because, yes, Huron and Zapotec were replacements and are very similar to the original. Also, keeping the names of the empire or confederacy would keep things more simple as to not pick one tribe to be possible rebels or have an over load of every single group that made up the greater organization. Honestly, I could go either way, axe Inca minor civ and replace it with something else, or reinvent the playable native’s minor civ variants.
There are a lot of issues with native settlements. The Nootka and Klamath are treated as generic west coast North American tribes despite being only being on Vancouver Island and southern Oregon respectively. Most tribes represented in the game are from around the United States. All of South America is severely lacking in representation.