I used to be a simulation junkie. I couldn't get enough, I had almost all of them on the C64 and quite a few on Amiga. I still reckon one of the most enjoyable submarine games was Red Storm Rising on the C64. That was purely enjoyable from a tactical point of view.
I had to battle to get it down in SA, mind you. We were unfortunate in that it was difficult to get a nice selection of games, and when games did come in, the platform and side-shooters were more in demand than the simulations.
One of the nicest things about that era was that (speaking for myself) I didn't know anything about the technology or the programming of graphics behind the game. This made it much more believable to me, gave it a certain mystique.
I miss that.
Sigh...