Yes, essentially, that's right-- or at least, it makes it much easier to actually build the laser guns. Almost every technological advancement is built on the shoulders of those which came before it. Even those which spurred the so-called Industrial Revolution--which seemed extremely sudden to those who lived through the period, and even more sudden in retrospect for historians--were part of a gradually evolving process. Manufactures are a particularly good example of this, because it relies on already having some machines to mass produce the parts for machines. The process of technological advance does not tend to come about because people are more intelligent, but because they have more familiarity with the resources at hand.