I’m lumping those two together because I have very few of each, and the two feel pretty similar. Much of Pirates! for instance is the swordplay and naval battle. Even the land battles are real time without pause.
Action
I’d venture that desktop setups in those days were ill suited for action games. Small screens, cramped keyboards and one button joysticks couldn’t rival with living room consoles. That being said there were popular action games for the Apple II GS, like Rastan, Rampage, Karateka… There were also platformers… Those are action, right? I played Donkey Kong at the school library once.
Karateka is also classic with barebones simplicity that made the platform a non issue.
Simulation
Pirates! is by far my favorite simulation game from that era. I also played some F-15 Strike Eagle and Silent Service (by the same author, Sid Meier and Microprose) but… Nothing to write home about in my opinion.
I’m looking forward to trying Silpheed for the first time!