[GS] Rock Bands OP?

[CoccoBill]

Tried my first GS game as Phoenicia, just fooling around and trying out things. Around turn 250 (on standard) I was last in culture, and purchased a couple rock bands. The first one quit after the 2nd gig, but I managed to level up the other one to 3 and started playing out wonders and entertainment complexes left and right. Accidental turn 430 culture victory with 2 theater districts, not a single artsy GP, absolutely no emphasis on culture at any point, except for Epic Xylofones, apparently the greatest rock band of all time.

I dread to think what you could do with a bunch of them.

 

[Ferocitus]

Tried my first GS game as Phoenicia, just fooling around and trying out things. Around turn 250 (on standard) I was last in culture, and purchased a couple rock bands. The first one quit after the 2nd gig, but I managed to level up the other one to 3 and started playing out wonders and entertainment complexes left and right. Accidental turn 430 culture victory with 2 theater districts, not a single artsy GP, absolutely no emphasis on culture at any point, except for Epic Xylofones, apparently the greatest rock band of all time.

I dread to think what you could do with a bunch of them.

So, if in that one and only game your bands failed, would you be posting that they are under-powered and/or a waste of faith?

 

[CoccoBill]

So, if in that one and only game your bands failed, would you be posting that they are under-powered and/or a waste of faith?

No, that was my initial expectation (or something along the line of gaining maybe 5-10 tourism in a few gigs) and that's precisely why I posted about it. I went from 10ish tourism to 550+, so that that one band single handedly won the game. Was this a crazy fluke or does that happen all the time? If the latter, OP?

 

[hsj]

I'm actually not sure what the best strategy is for deploying them, and I end up losing a lot of mine on Deity after 1 or 2 performances.

I'm interested to know if there're actually a good pattern to upgrade them/use them that ensures the best survival rate.

 

[Victoria]

I’m gonna try a pure rock band culture victory then

 

[Monthar]

Get the promotion that gives something like 25 or 50% of tourism as gold and you'll soon be making a fortune to rival Mansa Musa.

 

[CoccoBill]

The promotions I had were
1) +1 level and +1000 tourism on national parks (useless)
2) +2 levels on wonders (very nice, lots of wonders to play at)
3) +2 levels on entertainment complexes (nice).

Upgrades 2 and 3 made a world of difference. After the 3rd promotion I was rocking the wonders with a 4% failure chance, getting around 20-30 foreign tourists from the host countries after each gig.

 

[ggmoyang]

If you use a few of them you could be unlucky and just lose them all fast.

If you buy enough rock bands, some of them will get high level and make tons of tourism and gold, justifying all the faith investment.

I won a game with culture victory when I wasn't focused on tourism, just with Rock bands.

Spoiler :

Won CV at T294. I know this isn't fastest but just saying getting tourism almost entirely from rock bands is possible.

 

[Victoria]

I won a game with culture victory when I wasn't focused on tourism, just with Rock bands.

yes, I did one with the Maori earlier in another thread (the other one you replied in) just some wonders and rock bands

 

[Aurelesk]

Rock Bands have 50% to die when performing, and that percentage decrease when they get level up. Newly form Rock Band need a promotion that increase their level with promotion like Album Covert Art (+2 levels on wonder tiles), Glam Rock (+2 levels on Theatre Square), Arena Rock (+2 levels on Entertainment Complex), Reggae Rock (+2 levels on Water Parks), or Space Rock (+1 level and +1000 Tourism on Spaceport), and then you need to only performing at those districts until they level up.

When they get better, it's only at that moment you give them the "victory" promotion, like Goes to 11 for Tourism Victory, Indie for Domination, Religious Rock for Religion Victory, or Pop Star for extra Gold, because the chance they die are now very low.

You can deny others civilization Rock Band to perform in your civilization (or others with open borders) by putting units on your wonders and districts, like Builders, Great People, Military units...

 

[Victoria]

the chance they die are now very low.

I would not consider 6% very low.
Just like @ggmoyang said, you start with a ton and you end up with 1-2 promoted and they eventually dies also, not always but they can do so.
It is interesting what you say about promotions but there is still good value playing them directly at wonders. They get great tourism fast.

 

[Socrates99]

Just curious but, accidental turn 430 victory on standard? Don't you have to actively avoid winning at that point? You must have had wonders and such creating tourism right?

They're strong but I wouldn't call them OP. I spammed them against Kongo in my Swedish playthrough. Even got one band to level 4, (Medieval Stoplight \m/ Swedish Death Metal baby!) but his culture output resisted me pretty well.

 

[CoccoBill]

I think I had 1-2 theater squares and wonders. I wasn't going for any victory condition, just playing around. That one single band got me to over 550 tourism and a CV. I wasn't paying attention, just doing gigs where I could, then noticed I was leading in culture, dominant over 3/5 nations. I just decided to do a few more gigs in the remaining 2 nations and that was it.

 

[Stepwell]

I treat rock bands like I treat spies: Start with easy tasks, and keep grooming. If you have a bonus for playing in Seaside resorts, play in as many as you can to build up an audience, before moving on to other kinds of venues.