Ponman

Ponman advances one step at a time.

Narration, Chapter 1

Ponman (JP: ポンマン Ponman) (plural Ponmen) is a Darkner enemy in Card Kingdom that appears at the Great Board. They are based on pawns from chess. They resemble the Dark Ponman hazards that appear in Forest and Card Castle.

Profile

Appearance

Ponmen appear similar to white pawns from the game of chess. Their lower body is split in half, giving them legs. The black dot on their head is not only an eyespot, but also a nucleus.

Personality

Ponmen do not speak. According to Mr. Society, Ponmen are simple beings with no will of their own, as they only attack on the order of King. However, if they are spared multiple times, they agree to stop the battle, indicating that this may not be completely true. After King is defeated, Ponmen join Castle Town. They are listed as liking sleeping and disliking "moving backwards" in their recruit information, as a reference to the fact that pawns cannot move backwards in chess.

Etymology

"Ponman" is a homophone of "pawn man", as Ponmen resemble the pawn chess piece, and "man" is an alternate term for a chess piece. "Man" or "men" can also be used as military slang for soldiers, as Ponmen are subordinates of King.

Main story

Chapter 1

As the party travels through the Great Board, Ponmen appear as inanimate statues of pawns. Some of them jump down from pillars and chase the party as they pass by them, though this does not occur after Susie rejoins the party. Ponmen are automatically recruited at the end of the Chapter.

Chapter 4

Lancer has expanded his room in Ralsei's castle to include an enrichment enclosure for various recruits. A Ponman is receiving such enrichment by tamping the soil.

In battle

Appears with

• Another Ponman (before the party reaches Card Castle)
• Two Ponmen (before the party reaches Card Castle)

Attacks

• Ponman shoots 1-3 diamond projectiles from its eye-spots, which loosely track the SOUL. When a Ponman is SPAREable, this attack is disabled.
  • If there are multiple active Ponmen, they will shoot only 1-2 diamond projectiles. Fire rate slows with more Ponmen.

Available ACTs

Prevents Susie's auto attacks from hitting enemies. Disappears as a selectible ACT once Susie joins the party for real.

Makes the targeted Ponman spareable.

Ralsei sings, making the targeted Ponman spareable and inflicts TIRED on all enemies. Additionally puts Susie to sleep for the duration of the battle.

Strategy

Turn Routing

• Goodnight -> SPARE 3 times provides an easy and simple turn 3 solve, being preferable on a nonviolent playthrough. Warning is not necessary, as the Ponman who is hit should be SPAREd before Susie can attack due to the command order.

• Lullaby is a more dynamic and versatile ACT against Ponmen turn 1. Despite being an encounter with a violent Susie in the party, a Warning on the first turn is not necessary to clear the fight without violence, as Lullaby will put Susie to sleep, disarming her. For this reason, Lullaby stands out as an incredibly strong ACT in the battle, essentially condensing a Warning and Goodnight into one turn.
  • If the player has accrued 16% TP on the second turn, use Kris to SPARE the enemy targeted by Lullaby last turn, and use Ralsei to Pacify another enemy. On the third, Pacify the remaining enemy if able, or simply Goodnight into SPARE with Ralsei for a 3 turn clear.
  • If not, Goodnight a non SPAREable enemy, and use Ralsei to SPARE the Ponman selected by Lullaby last turn. On the third turn, SPARE the sleeping Ponman, and use Pacify on the remaining one for a 3 turn clear.
    • If unable to accrue 16% TP on the third turn, the battle will take 1 turn longer, due to a remaining Ponman. Goodnight or a DEFEND on turn 3 to Pacify/SPARE on the 4th turn will both work.
• Goodnight -> SPARE twice on two Ponmen nets a 2 turn clear.
• Lullaby -> SPARE and Pacify on turn 2 nets a 2 turn clear against two Ponmen, if enough TP is available.
• A Ponman can be easily dispatched with violence using all 3 of the party member's attacks, generally providing a turn solve equal to the number of enemies. In encounters with only Kris and Ralsei, the party may struggle to dispatch one enemy per turn. However, with a violent Susie, It is ideal to have Ralsei target the top enemy, and then have Kris target the middle enemy. On the next turn, Kris should target the second enemy, and Ralsei should weaken the third (if there is one), for the potential for a 2 turn solve.

• A Ponman can be SPAREd 10 times to make it spareable, and reducing one to 46 HP (a third of its maximum HP) or less makes it TIRED. These strategies are generally inefficient, but still usable.
  • Damaging a Ponman with an attack wakes it up if it was put to sleep by the Goodnight or Lullaby ACTs (and removes the "asleep" status which makes it spareable), but it remains spareable after it is SPAREd 10 times. This makes disarming Susie with Warning or Lullaby even more valuable.

Dodging

• To dodge Ponman’s attack, the SOUL should position itself in the left middle of the bullet board. If bullets are headed towards the SOUL, it should move up or down slightly, and then recenter whenever possible. The density of the pattern is quite high, but the amount of bullets which pose a threat will be quite low, so only the bullets close to the SOUL pose a threat to it.
• A ponman will stop attacking when it is SPAREable. If no available Ponmen can attack, the bullet board segment is ended early. This can be used advantageously to reduce the amount of attackers with ACTs like Lullaby or Goodnight.

Flavor text

• Its nucleus doubles as an eyespot. [Check]
• Ponman drew near! [Encounter with another Ponman or with other Ponmen]
• Ponman advances one step at a time. [Neutral]
• Ponman listens politely, despite having no ears. [Neutral]
• Ponman seems hypnotized by your idle animation. [Neutral]
• Ponman gazes enigmatically. [Neutral]
• Smells like a pawn shop. [Neutral]
• You whispered goodnight to Ponman. It fell asleep... [Goodnight]
• [Lullaby, Susie on the team]
  • Ralsei sang a soft and entrancing lullaby!
  • PONMAN fell asleep! SUSIE fell asleep! The enemies became TIRED!
• [Lullaby, Susie is not on the team]
  • Ralsei sang a soft and entrancing lullaby!
  • PONMAN fell asleep! The enemies became TIRED!
• The enemies became SLEEPY from Ralsei's lullaby! [Unused]
• You and Ralsei warned Ponman about Susie. The enemy went on guard... [Warning]
  • You and Ralsei warned the enemies about Susie. Everyone went on guard. [Everyone]
• Ponman can't keep its eye open. [Tired]
• Ponman looks dilated. [Low HP]
• Ponman is sleeping soundly. [Spare conditions met; unused]

Trivia

• Some of the Ponman's flavor text describe it in a way similar to a unicellular organism (particularly a unicellular eukaryote), with mentions of its "nucleus", and it being quite simple. This corresponds to the limited function and movement that a pawn has in chess.