Shogun 2 Total War - confirmed

[Intranetusa]

As far as weapons are concerned, japanese swords - katanas - are the highest quality hand-to-hand weapons ever produced - metallographic analysis in the highest quality european swords (from Toledo) showed about 200,000 layers of iron/carbon in the steel alloy. The equivalent number for a katana is 1,500,000 - making it a killing tool that hasn't been repeated. Other Japanese blades for yaris (spears) and naginatas (halberts) were of comparable quality.
For me only a single "style" is not a problem especially now that i know a lot about this particular one - although again your assumption is misleading - Sengoku Daimyos were particularly imaginative when tactics and strategy were concerned and were keen inovators in many instances. It was also not a problem in the past when i knew nothing about japan, its history and its warring tradition.
Perhaps your opinion is based on a misunderstanding or lack of understanding - in that case S2 provides a great opportunity to sort this misunderstanding for you - you never know.

Japanese katanas are great, but also greatly overrated. They are really no better than a quality European sword. Katanas weigh the same and have slightly better cutting ability (due to its curved shaped) when compared to a straight European sword.

And any cutting weapon, (ie katana) is totally useless against almost all forms of metal armor. And the katana was also a weapon of last resort for a battlefield samurai - their primary weapon was a bow/arrow, spear, naginata, etc

The forging styles of the katana came from China, transmitted through Korea. And nobody talks about the "quality" of Chinese or Korean swords even though quality swords from those states are basically the same or even superior compared to katanas. Katanas are made with quality because iron is scarce in Japan - whereas the average European sword can be made to be mediocre since iron was plentiful. All in all, katanas are great, but it's mostly hype.


PS - btw, 200,000 vs 1,500,000 folds is meaningless, because their cutting ability is virtually the same. Some quality European swords even have better edge geometry and superior sectional density when compared with a quality Japanese katana.