Where Would We Be Without Gunpowder

[Bovarius]

Man has always put a lot of effort in better, deadlier weapons. So is would have been gunpowder or something else. 3 things in life never change, Death, taxes and man's need to destroy!

To answer your question you could check civilisations who started using gunpowder rather late, for example, Japanese (until they eventually did). They perfectionated their weapons to a degree hardly seen in western europe.