Difficulty Cliff: a solution?

Take it straight from the movies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VTk2v5jGrc&t=7m0s

In a nutshell, giant NPC raiding parties. Would be nice to fight more things with guns besides immobile turrets and the occasional NPC who wants you dead because you picked the ugly trait.

On a side note: Npc’s on vehicles? Is it even possible? Imagine the mayhem

NPCs would open up a great many doors in the game, but right now they still cause crashes all over the place. I really think getting them working properly ought to be a priority.