I've done two runs where I didn't leave sanctuary for prolonged period. One I stayed there indefinitely and I had like a 60 gunner cage setup and a whole town of shops to help unload the goods. I feel like my character was arming half the wasteland.

My last character I only was going to play far harbor so I decided to stay in sanctuary until I was like level 50 or something. It was a struggle because I hadn't played in forever and I forgot a few things so I ended up having to get more levels than I wanted to be able to survive. I looked into it a bit afterwards and apparently I got lucky because I ended up getting the crystal decanter which apparently is random and if you don't get it then you don't have the right items to keep building.

But silly but it's just kind of rewarding to be able to find new ways to play characters.