In western schools Tarot is easier, it just shows the images in our fields. That images if strong enough will manifest. But there isn't connection to any calendar, when I thought about that I always assume that is why eastern systems can be so accurate with time, coz they have connection to the calendar.
In Liu Yao (Six Lines) or other Chinese divinations, images are also shown clearly. This is something that you already knew, Gmuli. Unfortunately, I don't find much explanation of images in the classical Liu Yao literature. I'm fortunate enough to have learnt how to derive images from a Taiwanese master. This is done through the same Liu Yao hexagram, but with much better use of Ten Gods, Month & Day Branches and Six Animals.
Yo're right that the calendric system in Chinese is what makes its divinatory system more powerful than Tarot. You can predict not only what and how things happen, but also when things will and will not happen.
Lets go a little deeper. I agree, in my view its all about Images.
The idea in the systems working with the lightbody/merkaba is that our aura/fields/sacred geometry creates the events in our lives.
While Tarot just picks up the strongest Images from the aura and counts on our spread to fall in correct positions BaZi seems to work with layers and depths.
The Year seems to be the most outer part of our aura, what the outside world(Spirit) will interact with first as we are born. Also the reason it covers early years(as the Spirit will come from outside In as it always does), and also why it covers things related to distance and reaching out. Its just physically more far away back from our third eye(in the middle of the head if we count the pineal gland as it) place for the Images to show.
Month is closer, Day is right beside us and hour is beyond that level, at the position of what they call 2th He(ה) in Kabbalah(the fruit that will manifest in another world/level).

In that sense BaZi pillars just cover the depth of the aura where the Images show up and again the strength of each one as they are enforced by interactions connected to cycles in the geometry in and out.
While for western practitioners may take many years to be able to figure out the time aspect just based on the depth, in BaZi it comes with the system and the images already within.
ZWDS instead of depth tries to map out the whole field bringing out important points that are shinning or not so much in a same layer, then adds more layers with the switching of Palaces.
Also works.
At the end its all about images(well, more or less).
So in that sense it seems Five Arts are more suited to work with time, sure.
While Tarot just picks up the strongest of them, but Tarot originally was used for traveling out of the body. Cards are portals to the paths of the Tree, in the same sense as we can change images with them and that will change events. In that way each system has its place and use.
One of the reason I like the blindstyle lately. While the heavy use of Images may have derived for a lot different reasons(for example that people there needed to replace what other practitioners would be able to see), they stumble upon something very, very important and that is that these systems are innately made to work with Images, more often then not.
When it comes to Liu Yao things become complicated...
It has to still be a flow in the sacred geometry, as all eventually comes to that, but to figure out how it works iwll take a deeper knowledge of the geometry and how it works.
People, that are just starting to work with Sacret Geometry will usually know only one shape of the electromagnetic fields in the aura, and that would usually be the star tetrahedron.


(images from google images and random sites)
Now, what is sometimes given is the idea that each of the Apexs of it holds 1 personality/ Trigram.
3 Daughers and Mother for the Earth tetrahedron and 3 sons and Father for the Sun tetrahedron.
When our life here is done and we are ready to come back again, the tetrahedron will turn and another personality will enter the next life. They change and rotate until we manage to merge them all and go on the steps beyond that...
In that sense, its easy to figure out parts of how Yi Jing works, its just a flow in the geometry creating pulsation.
The problem comes when we add the whole fields because everything becomes a lot more complicated.
But lets stop here as I realize its probably out of topic already. : )
In short - I very much agree it all revolves around Images as the flows in the geometry creates them , empowers them and pulls from the world around us the events connected to them(including time).
But as far as more powerful goes... Sure, for predicting time Five Arts seem more suited, for more powerful - I never said that. : )