Mobile strategy feels better suited to a phone when a short session still contains one useful decision. A readable interface helps, pausing is optional, and progression shouldn’t play the game for you.
Which games get that balance right? I’m especially interested in tower defense, and in the one design choice that makes a game work well on a phone.
Unciv! Ever heard of Civ, aka Sid Meier’s Civilization? Wanna play it on your phone without shelling out $20 for one of the worst-reviewed mobile ports of all time? Unciv is an open source implementation of a tile-based, turn-based strategy game. Oh, and there’s built-in mod support as well. Not huge on mobile gaming, so it’s literally the only one I’ve been playing for months.