Sir Monsieur
Connoisseur of all things.
Maybe?....Are we?
Yes. I do think that they should encounter bandits at some point. How about we have more cities than just Pax? Pax would be the city for the good guys and the newbs, with it being the weakest settlement. Then there would be one which could be mid tier as it has adequate gear and is the one that grows all the food so they are not instantly eradicated, and then the last base would be armed to teeth while producing nothing of their own meaning they would steal and loot other cities. Although, i do think that it will be a while until something takes the place of money as currency.
I do like that idea. We can always trade or we can brew oke coke and moonshine.