A sluice gate controls water flow. The only use for it would have been to control water flow in Markarth, or another location.
Vampire attacks pretty much stop after Harkon dies, and if vamps are joined they get worse. They only occur at night, and infrequently in most cities except Riften.
Armor skills do raise while blocking, it's more noticeable however if you have no blocking perks or enchantments so damage gets through. My block raised 30 points using a daedric shield, light armor raised 8.
Riften can have a dragon attack, thief and vampire attack simultaneously. It is the most annoying home, especially if someone accidentally hits the Ebony Warrior also, turning him hostile. Dragons can only land right in front of the palace, or the courtyard with the talos shrine. They can hover or perch on the inn, and freely attack the market and docks without transitioning like the player. Hired thugs can also attack inside the city.
Severin is lifeless though, and mostly just there as a base of operations for people without Arvak. Since fast travel off the island via manual or boat passage is impossible while over-encumbered. Ash Spawn continue to attack the bulwark, even after killing the general and enemies can spawn above the mine on the ridge. Above severin on the hill is a spawn point for animals, and the madman that gives a quest for a black book can occur within or very near the town. Similarly the hired thugs from both stealing and not paying the orc can spawn in or near the town.
Dragons in Solitude can appear over the shops or in the same place as vampires, past the shops beside the hall of the dead on the path to the palace where only one guard patrols. In Markarth the vamps spawn on the walkway between the the warrens and smelter, where they get mobbed by 4-5 guards and pull the guard by the gate if they wander close to the market. Hired thugs spawn inside Solitude too and the Penitus soldiers killed on the ramparts escaping after poisoning/killing the fake emperor respawn and remain hostile making passing under it risk aggro.
The Windhelm house is just bugs at every turn, assuming the quest to obtain it even starts. Plus a light guard response to vampires, and hired thugs.
Safest house is Vlindrel Hall in Markarth. No dragons, no hired thugs (they appear between the stables and farm/mine), and vampires get mobbed by lots of guards almost immediately (whereas other cities have light guard presence at vampire spawn points). The only threats are running into the guy who stole the research from Katria for the aetherium wars book and his thugs in the inn. The Forsworn escaping Cidhna Mine during the day can kill important npcs too.
Out of all of the homesteads, I have the least encounters and headaches from Windstad. The biggest issue is the npcs will kill all the nearby horkers making it almost impossible to keep them around.
Thieves, vampires and a dragon can all attack simultaneously, and if the ebony warrior is present and gets hit accidentally he turns hostile as well. I had to reload a previous save, get the dragon to pop elsewhere before it spawned in Riften then do the same with the vampires before visiting to keep the town alive. When all four triggered at once the entire town died.
In every game I have played (5 as breton, 2 as argonian, 1 as everything else but Imperial) it is always in Valthume, or the Reach.
It looks like a reskinned, and shrunk Eye of Magnus.
It's reducing over-encumbered movement speed with a drawn bow, even when taken while not over-encumbered.
Was just going to be better armor, etc. I miss in Fallout 3 eventually equipping every settlement with better gear.
I put all my bloody rags, etc in there and turn into something out of a horror story. I like it too because a rune on the ground just past the small fire pit (where the roasted pig from Sovngarde looks great) looks awesome in the low light. In Vlindrel though I line the steps up to it with torches on the pillars, and improve the overall lighting in every high location.
Also Vlindrel with cushioned from heavy armor is fun, you can just leap off with no worries and whirlwind sprint from the staircase almost all the way to the keep's steps when over-encumbered with smithing and enchanting stuff. Then from the guard tower to Vlindrel's porch.
As to OCD, I loot everything and even make it a point to loot houses after becoming friends with people. I'll hop off my horse to loot a single plant. I also collect fur boots, shoes, gauntlets and bracers but not the armor. Even the peasant clothes that are more expensive than all other peasant clothes, miner's outfits/blacksmith aprons, pickaxes, baskets, brooms, clothes irons, etc all go in one container because I imagine starting my own mining operations, and house cleaning businesses (speech is focused on early). Lol.
"There goes the Dragonborn, has a monopoly on dinnerware, clothing, etc."
"Only person I know that got rich off hide and fur armor. You think he outfits all those bandits?"
It is not for Daedric crafting, which is why that aspect feels like an afterthought. It's for low level conjurers/archers on high difficulties. You can save before talking to Faralda, and reload until she wants you to cast flame atronach, then buy it from her for 30 septims.
Conjuration spell tomes/elixirs/staves before they appear in shops. Double duration via elixirs, that's why Anise's cabin has x1 ectoplasm, the college spawns x4 ectoplasm and it's cheap at alchemist shops, along with petty soul gems from wizards. They can also be farmed at Yngvild Barrow if Arondil is not killed, Rannveig's Fast if Sild the Warlock is not killed, and the Abandoned Prison. Morvunskar has around 92 empty wine bottles to use as the final ingredient.
Salts for exploding crossbow bolt mass production with Dawnguard.
Other uses include easy fire salts for Balimund, frost salts for Dravynea the Stoneweaver.
The number of Hjerim bugs is ridiculous, assuming the murder investigation even starts itself without bugging out. At least in Solitude the biggest bug was the downstairs room not getting converted to a housecarl's bedroom.
Out of the base houses the abandoned house is still my favorite because it's free to begin using immediately upon entering. Then when I upgrade to the official house I sing the Jefferson's theme song, "Moving on up, to a deluxe apartment in the sky!".
You can also use the forge to create the 10 fire salts for the smith in Riften, or the frost salts for the mage in Kynesgrove mine. Staves of conjuring for a non-conjurer at very low levels (Storm Atronach before level 10, yes please!). All without the sigil stone.
You're forgetting the alchemy/enchanting loop, and fortify destruction potions. Augmented Flames, Azhidal's Mask, Fortify Destruction (1000% or more), weakness to fire (100% or more to overcome resistances). Torches could do 100+ burn damage rapidly, but it's a lot of effort for a novelty weapon. Burning enemies take more damage from other sources too, if memory serves, so it's meant to augment the main-hand weapon. The meditations on the words of power for flame also has a bug listed that claims it can increase fire spells ridiculously high too, so maybe even the torch.
Yeah, there are also three random encounter points right around the base of the shrine of talos. One at the path on the left (coming from windhelm) after crossing the bridge, another on the left right after the shrine and just before the animal spawn point, and a third up by the bridge to the mill.
Still though, flowers are very common around Windhelm. There's like 12 flower bushes on the road by the farms alone. All of the kids added with Hearthfire are level 1, only a few in the orphanage are lvl 4. Granted it means little since they are immortal, but my Dragonborn can't be having weak kids. :p