If nothing else, Fate at least gives the nod to Pankration as the world's oldest known mixed martial arts style, which by the setting's rules should mean Chiron blows Shuwen's Bajiquan out of the water.
Completely wrong and if anything means the opposite.
By the setting's rules, anything involving humanity's knowledge gets
better over time.
He sorta is?
Nasu: Everyone from 19th Century suck balls and Edison is only as he is because in America he was the only Governamental Figure summoned and so all the presidents bet their odds on him and his allies defeating the Celts, outside of Grand Orders (the term for missions to saving mankind, not the game) he is a normal human with E-D stats everywhere
Mata Hari. Has one really good skill. If it fails she's dead period
Li Shuwen. One Hit Kill no matter what defense you put against, even just grazing is fucking fatal.
High Ranking Presence Concealment that never falls and you can only detect part of him if you have well detect skills or Instinct/Eye of Mind. Which means Li Shuwen will fight you and you can't HEAR/FEEL/SEE him at all
Oh and in case all that fails he can just Punch Good everything to death making the other two skills not Succeed or Die at all
Also B Rank STR and A Rank AGI. In a age of 'Humans suck balls, period.' At least his endurance is C which is not that bullshit and Mana/Luck are E which evens out somewhat
I mean yeah he loses HARD to AOE attacks but with presence concealment why would you shoot at him if you don't even have a single hint that he is around?
No, you're wrong. You're so damn wrong. There is a clear trend that modern servants have weaker physical ability but stronger NPs and skills. This reflects with everything Nasu harps about with regards humanity's advancement.
Edison was chosen as the best candidate to oppose the Celts. Thus the presidents across history imbued him with additional power to stand up physically to them. Edison can literally shut down mystery in the area, and his interlude had him stealing (copying? not sure) Gae Bolg and Rule Breaker and combine them into a better NP. He failed,
but the idea is there. Do you imagine that? Literally improving NPs? That's crazy as shit.
Hell, he
did take the Babbagebots, turn'em into electrically-powered mechanized armor and mass-produced them.
Mata Hari is weak as a Servant, because
she was never a combatant. However, look at her skills and NP. She's a superb infiltrator. Which is, you know,
her actual role. She can charm entire crowds of anything ffs.
Helena's like a prodigy of magecraft, Babbage's steam RM, Tesla's everything, who else do I forget. Hell, even Emiya represents this to an extent, he can defeat other, physically superior servants through tactics and skill.
Throw me other modern servants and I'll tell you why they don't suck, and it will be because of their skills, inventions, NPs, etc.
You're not only conflating gameplay and lore, you're telling me modern servants suck because they can't lift as much as older people
when the entire conceit of human advancement and modern technology is that skill, wisdom, intelligence and technique have trumped and replaced physical might. Jesus christ go read a goddamn shonen manga or something. They have the punchmans you want.