Would it be possible for some modding genius to create a mod that allows players to:
1. Edit the appearances of the starting colonists
2. To increase the number of starting colonists to something like 5-6
This is not currently possible without outside editors. (I think RW SaveEditor (http://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=1646.0) can do this)
Might be possible in Alpha 2, where modding will be more comprehensive.
Alternatively, if you've got a fair amount of spare time, you could have a look at my tutorial for creating custom scenarios (http://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=1963.0). I'm pretty sure I covered how to add additional colonists to a save, although I have not (yet) covered changing the appearance of colonists.