Episode Three must end this way. Any other ending, given how Valve has designed the Combine and portrayed them, would contradict the image that they have been given.
I don't believe that spawning an NPC will crash a Half-Life 2 Deathmatch server. They are definitely bugged but we used to spawn (read: spam hundreds of) NPCs and get them to "work" without major issues, on our server.
Basically, you have to set it all up yourself but after a while, it isn't...
On this happy day, I will give to Samon his very own Miscellaneous thread!
Except he would the party would end prematurely with a slaughtering of the guests and hosts of the party and there would be no cake :(
And Wanted Bob knows what he's gonna get tonight for his birthday surprise...