I'm going to be a little presumptive and assume the above includes my board, though it's certainly one of the simpler set-ups. I'm in just the one band and other than the odd cover, we only do our own material. Of the five pedals on my board, four of them are always on effects. So the compressor, octaver, chorus and preamp. The comp is just what it is, something to smooth out my playing. My band doesn't have a guitarist or keyboard player so that's where my octaver comes in - adds a bit of upper octave, a fifth up and just for fun, a spot of octave down too. The chorus is for that beautiful 80s shimmer and that's a must for me. The VT is there for the Ampeg tone, the extra EQ options and just a little sizzle from the drive. Delay gets used to add spaciousness to a handful of songs, like an echo. One song in particular is written around the delay for the effect of being somewhere like a very large desolate cemetery in autumn/ winter.
My violinist uses a simple spring reverb set to maximum to give the vibe of her playing in the Underground.
I hope that gives you some ideas.