When I was a teen I was obsessed with the naval combat in Empire Total War, although I now know that to be pretty flawed. Currently I would say it’s the Ultimate Admiral series. The first game (Age of Sail) is a masterpiece, and Dreadnoughts is excellent if a bit janky. There’s really no good Ancient era naval game, although I’ll never get tired of bonking ships in Rome Total War 2. If you’re in to submarines U-Boat is excellent.

I’m gonna throw in a curveball recommendation as well in the form of Nebulous: Fleet Command. It’s a hard sci-fi naval simulator that is in my opinion the most accurate portrayal of what space combat would be like. It’s akin to a bunch of submarines trying to find each other in the Atlantic. You’re basically playing hide and seek with nuclear missiles and emissions control and battle cruisers instead of children.

I’ve messed around with games like World of Warships but I’m more of a single-player strategy guy.