Ive got 2 vets currently,and had one more (who died).So they are not always hostile.that said,it probably depends a ton on the mod settings.You might want to go inot the tab for the mod and see what the settings are for npcs.

I havent come across the npc type " guard " yet.The soldiers always seem to be holding the guard jobs.Even the prison was manned by soldiers when i gave it a loot.Soldiers are often hostile in my exp,especially when they are not part of the soldier roadblock area.

that guard guy in muldrough is a unique spawn so HE will always be hostile yes. but guys with name prefix veteran are not all hostile.

My guy was just named Veteran without any other name. I got a girl called Lumberjack who I could convince of my cause so I thought maybe some interrelations are part of the mod :D (Like in Jagged Alliance 2, that would be awesome) I will do some more testing.

It was fun watching my companion scaring the veteran off in the mid of a hoard of zombies. Afterwards I tried to talk to him and ran after him but he just yelled to me to leave him be XD. I might have a backup where he ain´t scared, I´ll send my companion back to base and try again.

Did a bit more testing. Found the Veteran and suddenly her name changed to Veteran Kerry or so. Then when I called her, she stopped for a moment every time, said Bye Bye and ran off. She didn´t seem to be hostile but neither friendly.

yea,they can be "skiddish also.if you get the options (give food,invite,give water,etc...) on the right click,they are possibly recruitable.

Hostiles you dont get the second list of options after the call over.

hostiles may not attack you or anyone else if they are out numbered, or vs someone with a better weapon, or if they have no weapon. they may seem neutral at that time but when their advantage changes then they will probably attack you. Also the hostiles have a different font color.

if font color is the color of the "hostiles" tag,its buggy at best.Ive seen blue ,grey,and red hostiles tags on hostiles.Even the pvp flag doesnt always switch when they attack.

Had a blue tagged bandit leader run along side my van hitting the npcs inside,and the bandit leaders tag not only stayed blue,but the pvp flag never came on either.