Gasoline generators are ok for when you already know the power is going to be out, such as an approaching hurricane or if you have a hunting camp to power for a few days. It can also be good for short term outages when you know you have enough incidental gasoline on hand to run a generator for 1 or 2 nights.
When it comes to long term unexpected outages such as ice storms or earthquakes, it is best to consider only diesel or propane. Natural gas is also an option, but less so for earthquake events. Personally, I would feel better having my own fuel on site, but there is always the possibility of someone pirating your propane or diesel. It is wise to put some thought into securing your generator and fuel during a major long term outage (>1 week). The sound of a running generator can attract unwanted attention from a long way off.
The whole generator thing isn’t just one consideration...it’s a near religion. There’s the fuel storage & security, the disconnect/changeover, the noise, the security of the genset itself, grounding. Lotta things. I have not personally installed one, never mind ten, so I am reluctant to advise..hence my referral to a discussion of generally intelligent folks who have them.
It’s not a topic I am fervently interested in at the moment, but what I have skimmed so far leads me to think that as you say, a gasoline-fueled gen is the for kind of the lightest of lightweight applications, those applications being much less of an emergency than “bad as it can get”.
I do know that storing gasoline is somewhat problematical. Yes, it can be done, but it has some gotchas that cannot be ignored.