If primed grenades explode also in inventory, after the timer is up, it would be a good solution.
I think Yankes is already working on this.
This sounds promising.
Then they are not enemies but prey. The big factions at least should have some semblance of threat about them.
The big factions are threats in the abstract grand sense. The factions by and large don't give a rats ass. Only small commands take direct action against the player.
This is much like real world piracy. The powers of the age of sail largely didn't bother with the investment needed to wipe out pirates in a given region. The problem just was never sufficient to register with the kings and queens of nations. Local commanders on the other hand took every action they reasonably could but they often lacked sufficient forces to solve the issue permanently. And that doesn't count the examples where the major power where directly funding piracy against the other powers. Or turning a blind eye in hopes there rivals get hurt worse.
Or for a more modern example. The piracy in Somalia was a problem know to the world for months but it took the capture of an American ship and crew, for the US to get off it's butt and address the problem. Until criminal acts are actively threatening an established powers stability and or reputation with its own constituents they will do nothing. The bigger a power the bigger the threat needed to get things in gear.
This absolutely renders local operations of major power as "prey" to organized criminals.