Non-combatant NPC's would be cool. Namely, herds of animals that roam the map. A variety of large and small dinosaurs would be neat. To me, this would make the maps feel much more organic and alive.
I guess they could be considered "hazards", like if your driving around and hit the equivalent of a super large cow, or accidentally shoot one and provoke it. Give them some simple, predictable, attack in the event they get shot or hit by a vehicle. Make them tough as nails and powerful so people won't mess with them solo unless they want an ass-kicking. Not really fond of AI that attacks unprovoked though, it should really be the players fault when they get attacked.
An interesting idea: If you shoot one within a certain radius it will attack you, but if you are farther away it attacks the nearest player, friendly or enemy. I would make the radius pretty large, 300m or larger. Snipers could have a blast with this. Counter them with a fast-acting tranquilizer dart sidegrade (then run like hell).
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