Carrier Command 2 Run the whole war from one deck

The strategy happens from inside the ship. Your character walks the bridge in first person, and every system is a station you physically go to: the helm, the weapons, the aircraft elevator, the radar.

When the alarms go off, the game changes shape. One moment you are plotting waypoints on a map, the next you are sprinting across the deck to arm the main gun while torpedoes are in the water. You can also jump straight into any vehicle you have launched and fly the strike mission yourself, or hand your units orders and watch the battle unfold from the tower. A bit of both works too.

The map is a chain of islands, each held by defenders loyal to neither side, and the enemy carrier is somewhere out there doing the same math you are. Radar and recon tell you where the resistance is thin, and where you strike first is the real decision. Peel away a island's air defences, bomb the turrets from altitude, then send amphibious vehicles ashore to finish the job.

Taking an island is only half of it. Captured islands produce vehicles, weapons and ammunition, so you plan which ones to seize and keep the supply lines between them open. Lose a link and your front line runs dry at the worst moment. The approach you pick shapes the outcome more than any single battle does.

This is a game built to be crewed. In co-op, friends share one carrier and split the stations: someone flies, someone runs logistics, someone takes the helm while the rest plan the next landing.

It scales the other way too. Multiple carriers can work together against the AI, or face off in PvP between carrier groups, human admirals on both sides of the map. The pace is slow and deliberate, with long stretches of travel between islands, which is exactly when the talking, planning and second-guessing happens. Bring people who like to argue about strategy.