Finally, here are the top 10 nodes according to my seeder:
31.204.128.80:31174
74.207.230.61:31174
220.239.41.71:31174
98.18.252.73:31174
213.239.208.169:31174
67.205.153.62:31174
178.63.60.7:9025
72.48.98.106:31174
139.162.195.69:18333
170.130.28.186:31174
Thanks for the updated node list!
This was probably the biggest help yet actually. I have now imported this list and the client is up to 9 active peers, whereas before I only managed to ever connect to one or two at a time.
My other questions from above do not seem as urgent now, although the answers still might be helpful in general.