Sith In The Sith era and Old Republic were much stronger then the new sith, and jedi in StarWars.

As far as the intelligence goes you are correct, the old sith were not better then the new sith, but thats not what this debate was about. Its about who was the overall most powerful. Though you are completely correct with the Nhiulus thing in the end Darth Sidious would still fall eaisly at his hands. People like Nhiulus had power that came with a terrible price, they had to forsake their humanity, and become force addicts to live, but as a result they could destroy whole planets with a hand gesture, and make entire suns go nova in a matter of hours. The new sith were flawed because they relied too much on their wits. Where as Darth Vader and Sidious had to build an entire star station the size of a small moon to destroy a planet, Reavan and or Nhiulus could destroy the whole planet with the force. No extremely expinsive death star needed. On another note, when you said that the old sith were more power driven as opposed to intellect you are severrly mistaken. Bane hinself was the first to note the gigantic flaw in the dark Jedi and root it out. The first sith to support seperatist groups across the galaxy, and the first to cling to the shadows as opposed to attacking his opponant head on. Yes the Palpitine did plant spies, and build an entire army from the shadows to be the downfaall of the jedi, but who do you think first planted those seeds of corruption? Bane. It was even stated in the book that even though the seeds he planted might take generations or even centuries to grow when they did it would be monumental. Everything Sidious, and Vader did and had accomplished was due to the plans and cunning of Darth Bane and his later succesors nearly 1000 years before hand. Where did you think Sidious retrived his plans? From studying the tactics of Bane and others like him. Where do you believe he required all his sources from? The shadow brokers and spies that Bane had hired cunturies before hand, and Bane would have to truly be one of the most brilliant dark lords for his plan to have still thrived nearly a millenia later. So when you say that the neo Darth Lords are more cunning then the anchiant ones, you are sorely mistaken, for it is due to the actions of the anchiant ones; most notably Bane, that the new sith were able to thrive. Now on a more force related note, I notice you are comparing the new sith and jedi to each other as opposed to the sith of the old republic or sith era. That is another flaw. For there is not one sith or jedi in the new melinium that could stand up to darth reaven weather he was light or dark. As I state earlier, yes the neo sith are more cunning but their wits came at the cost of their strong connection to the force. Take for instance Darth Vader. I'm pretty sure u have heard about AND ARE GOING CRAZY OVER STAR WARS: THE FORCE UNLEASHED! This game has direct relevance over the Star Wars universe. In this game Vader finds an apprintace, teaches him the ways of the darkside, and pushes the dark side to the LIMIT! [as they would think, because technically compared to Nhiulus or Traya, they were only at the tip of the iceberg, and the apprintice would only be considerde powerful because everyone else was substantially weakened in the ways of the force] Darth Vader; rather then learn all that he could from his master and then strike him down with his own teachings, would rather train an apprintace and have the both of them take him down together. This is a weakness. A Pethetic flaw in the followers of the darkside. Rather then destroy Sidious with his own power Vader would have to rely on the power of his apprintace to pull through as well, and if they did succede, then the knowledge that sidious held that was never taught would be lost to oblivion. Unless he kept a hologram of some sort, his knowledge could never be taught to anyone else. By doing this Vader and his apprintice would substatially weaken all the followers of the darkside, because important teachings and knowledge of their way of life would be lost forever. So Vader could never learn these secreats, and niether could anyone else after him. THAT IS WHY THE DARK SIDE HAD BEEN WEAKENED SO MUCH! THAT IS WHY THE OLD SITH LORDS WERE SO MUCH MORE POWERFUL THEN THEIR PREDESESSORS! Though the new sith lords are far more resourceful and cunning they traded their greatest resource, tool, and weapon; the force, over simple cunning, but in the end all the plotting in te world couldnt save them from certian death. If you were to pit Ajunte Paul, or Tulok Horde, against Darth Vader, Maul, or Sidious, who would win. If we were to just put these old sith in a room with the new sith and give them nothing but their lightsabers and the force, the oldies would take home the gold. Why, its simple really, because all their plotting, and cunning, and deception, wouldnt save them in a real fight, for they would have no resources to fall back on. The old sith wouldnt have made this mistake, not Kreia or Bane. If you set up a fight between a Kung Fu master, and a person who has studied kung fu, the Kung Fu master will eaisly defeat the Kung Fu scholar. Even though the other guy has all the knowledge of Kung Fu the world contains, this doesnt mean he can fight, or put this knowledge into action. Though he knows all of the figting styles flaws, and imperfections, that doesnt mean he can counter act them, that doesnt mean he can win because though he posseses the knowledge it wont help him win unless he is physically and mentally able to apply it. I believe the old and new sith are tied closely to this metaphore, and if you have any knowledge of the sith past and present, so will you.