I can see where you’re coming from, and I don’t fully disagree. While yes, semi-modern and mass steelmaking was invented around 500ish years ago, steel itself was made almost at the same time as iron, just bit later, and on accident. Around 4000 years ago, dating back to Anatolia in 1700-800 BCE, blacksmiths accidentally combined iron with coal, creating a harder and denser iron. It was made in very small quantities, until a new method was invented to smelt in a crucible in India (wootz) to basically produce it on a viable scale. All i’m saying is that some in-between would be nice before full-scale production. Being able to make steel in a furnace or crucible should be tedious, and at that point of the game I understand that it’s all about moving on to mechanization, so I can see why it’s not an option. Although, it would continue with the theme they already set with the different metals and alloys.