It would depend on whether the question were solely open to a certainty or to a full range of probability.
In probability theory, in the face of an unknown you would assume an average value, so when confronted with a team as relatively good as Manchester United, a team so beyond the average as Manchester United, the likelihood is that they would emerge victorious against a completely unknown side.
__________________ "Engage people with what they expect; it is what they are able to discern and confirms their projections. It settles them into predictable patterns of response, occupying their minds while you wait for the extraordinary moment — that which they cannot anticipate."
__________________ "Engage people with what they expect; it is what they are able to discern and confirms their projections. It settles them into predictable patterns of response, occupying their minds while you wait for the extraordinary moment — that which they cannot anticipate."
__________________ "Engage people with what they expect; it is what they are able to discern and confirms their projections. It settles them into predictable patterns of response, occupying their minds while you wait for the extraordinary moment — that which they cannot anticipate."
- Sun Tzu: The Art of War
MMA Predictions: 77-0 (100.0%)
Last edited by Jinsoku Takai on May 28th, 2011 at 05:43 PM
Registered: Dec 2007
Location: Land of Little Cubes and Tea
I will hunt you down like the dirty monkey you are and force you to wear a moose skin and ride a greased piggy while singing folk tunes. I am watching someone ride the piggy as I write this. The piggy is smelly!
Like how I was riding your mom lastnight while humming zippity-doo-dah? .......
__________________ "Engage people with what they expect; it is what they are able to discern and confirms their projections. It settles them into predictable patterns of response, occupying their minds while you wait for the extraordinary moment — that which they cannot anticipate."
- Sun Tzu: The Art of War
MMA Predictions: 77-0 (100.0%)
Last edited by Jinsoku Takai on May 28th, 2011 at 05:56 PM
Bad logic TJ. The '98 Bulls lost 20 regular season games. See how that works?
__________________ "Engage people with what they expect; it is what they are able to discern and confirms their projections. It settles them into predictable patterns of response, occupying their minds while you wait for the extraordinary moment — that which they cannot anticipate."
they lost 20 times, but i'm still statistically speaking, more likely to be right if I pick them to win over an unknown team. Not bad logic, you just misunderstood my point. Sure, they have a chance to be beaten, but if you were betting money, you would put it on the bulls. (i meant the 96 bulls anyway, i screwed that up...)
In probability theory, if you knew the average value of an unknown variable, you would also know the variance of that value (i.e. standard deviation, distribution, and interquartile range).
That's a hell of a lot more information than we've got about lightsaber ability for any era, let alone the overall arc of the mythos.
__________________ "Engage people with what they expect; it is what they are able to discern and confirms their projections. It settles them into predictable patterns of response, occupying their minds while you wait for the extraordinary moment — that which they cannot anticipate."
We know about his prowess with the Force and the manner and extent to which it would likely contribute to his effectiveness with a lightsaber; we know that he had been a battle hardened Jedi (I think?) and may have likely retained his technical proficiency with the weapon following the incident on Malachor V; we know that he carried one around with him with the presumable intention of using it in a combat scenario.
There are multiple examples within the mythos of extremely powerful Force Users with seemingly little to no training or recent practise with the weapon performing more effectively with the weapon then those that are highly trained and skilled with it, and the idea that prowess with the Force is the real determining factor in a lightsaber engagement is a principle that's echoed by numerous lightsaber trainers and experts. Given that Darth Nihilus, in many ways, has demonstrated himself to be one of the most powerful Force Users, if not the single most powerful Force User, in the entirety of the mythologies, and has demonstrated at least some level of training/experience with the weapon and an inclination to use it, I feel it would be unfair to immediately label him an unknown and assume either an average value for his ability or that he would immediately be defeated by anybody with more directly realised abilities with the weapon.
Registered: Dec 2007
Location: Land of Little Cubes and Tea
More Force = better in combat.
Luke Skywalker. Anakin Skywalker. Darth Bane. Darth Sidious.
Um, no he doesn't. He was the one who explicitly said that the Force is the deciding, and most important factor in lightsaber combat. He only said that its possible for someone more skilled in lightsaber combat to beat one stronger in the Force, and then later showed how that is so when he pulled a second saber on Bane's ass. As it is, Force > Skill almost every time.
__________________
Last edited by Nephthys on May 29th, 2011 at 03:29 PM
Luke and Anakin in the beginning of their training had the potential to be uber-force users. They were not yet N. class force-users. They were first good in sabers, then become powerful in the force.
Bane was good, but still was losing to force-infant Kas'im.
And...what is Sidious doing on your list?
Exactly, Kas'im was beating Bane, even though Bane was uber in the force. In sabers Bane was fvcked.
__________________ Theory is like a box of tools. It must be useful. It must function. And not for itself.
Last edited by axel_jovan on May 29th, 2011 at 03:50 PM
May 28th, 2011 02:58 PM
....... 
