I have a suggestion. But all what i am going to say can be easily summed up in one phrase from a guy in the forums:
“Last minute addition: how about survivor groups? A detachment of military soldiers who’ve claimed an old missile silo. A group of cops holding out in their station or just a gang of bandits living in an abandoned gun store.”
This was put as a question, i don’t know why, so i am going to show this on the drawing board.
There could be easily lots of kinds of survivor groups… like
1- Normal survivor group, usually starting in evacuation shelters, they are from 4 to 6, generally armed and with a cop (generally this dude will have more ammo, an S&W and riot gear)
2- Bandit Band: group that will raid really small towns, and they can be commonly be found at gas stations. They will not attack you if you give them money (wich youll need to get form other NPCs) and they are usually armed with bats and wrenches.
3- Crashed Caravan Army: Some soldiers that were inside an army truck and crashed in the middle of the road. They will make small wood trenches and have lots of crates near them, and they will not attack you (at the contrary, they will help you: if you dont have any weapon at sight, they can give you some fisrt aid and bottled water) unless you mess with their crates.
4- Doctors at Doctor’s office: Maybe 2 or 3 doctors, armed with knifes, surviving inside a super boarded up doctor office. If you try to enter, they will attack: they think you are a bandit.
Also, you could start from character creation as one leader of those NPC groups: In the work tab, an special tab were you can select if you want to start as the cop, a soldier, a bandit, or a doctor. It is a good idea?