Yeah. When you really think about it, Europe really did start on easy mode in that regard. Continent was chock full of good quality, easily accessible ore of all kinds.
Meanwhile, Japan had to fight tooth and nail just to get any workable metal. If I remember correctly, most of their “ore” was from iron-rich sand.
As they say, necessity is the mother of all invention. If you need extremely high quality craftsmen just to make a half-decent weapon, that’s what you’ll get (as long as money is no object).
Yeah. When you really think about it, Europe really did start on easy mode in that regard. Continent was chock full of good quality, easily accessible ore of all kinds.
Meanwhile, Japan had to fight tooth and nail just to get any workable metal. If I remember correctly, most of their “ore” was from iron-rich sand.
As they say, necessity is the mother of all invention. If you need extremely high quality craftsmen just to make a half-decent weapon, that’s what you’ll get (as long as money is no object).