N.
Well if its the imbalance thats causing their perceptions to be blunted, and the imbalance has been around since before Sidious........
Gideon's essay
'Something was clouding the future, and the order's very connection to the Force was weakening. That a Sith Lord existed somewhere in the galaxy, was not in doubt but could this shadowy villain really bring this much imbalance to the Force?'
^ The quote attributes the order's weakening connection to the shadowy villain (Palpatine) who was bring[ing] "this much" imbalance to the Force. The Force wasn't balanced before, but Palpatine was what was clouding Jedi perception.
And yet we know that Palpatine was soley imbalancing the Force because that was happening for centuries before his rise. The quote only says that the Jedi's weakened perceptions was due to the existence of a Sith Lord, not that he is actively working to accomplish this.
Of course this one:
The second installment of a two-part article by Abel G. Pena entitled Aliens in the Empire mentions that the dark side adept and future Imperial Procurator of Justice Hethrir possessed Darth Sidious rare talent to cast a dark side shadow over Force users, dulling their abilities.
...Contradicts that, indicating that it was an innate ability rather than actual power.
Objects and locations can have Force alignment based on association with various Force sects. A Sith focusing crystal would naturally reverberate with the dark side, would it not? A device that focuses an abundance of power would logically be detectable by hundreds of Jedi, yes?
And yet we see his using one and remaining undetected.
Also I recall that the Jedi damn well knew a Sith was doing stuff on Corescant, but they just couldn't find him.
N.
And yet we know that Palpatine was soley imbalancing the Force because that was happening for centuries before his rise. The quote only says that the Jedi's weakened perceptions was due to the existence of a Sith Lord, not that he is actively working to accomplish this.
This is a rather long-winded concession that Palpatine was the source of the Jedi's weakened perceptions and not previous Sith.
N.
Of course this one: ...Contradicts that, indicating that it was an innate ability rather than actual power.
Rather like the section above, I'm not sure what your point is. In fact, I'm not even sure you know what your point is. That Palpatine's ability to smother Jedi perceptions is the result of an innate talent means that it isn't related to "actual power"?
N.
And yet we see his using one and remaining undetected.
Me
I'd say it would, actually, be pretty stupid of Palpatine to frequently make use of Sith focusing crystals.[quote]N.
Also I recall that the Jedi damn well knew a Sith was doing stuff on Corescant, but they just couldn't find him.
The Jedi weren't aware that a Sith was conducting operations on Coruscant until Labyrinth of Evil.