Any suggestions for a lightweight-ish RTS game for my dad?

[x4000]

Get SoaSE: Rebellion if you're going to get that, it has more variety than Trinity. Also Titans!

Yep, definitely.  Just bought it a bit ago.

[chemical_art]

And super forts, err, starbases!

[Castruccio]

I just got Sins too.  It is 50% off on gamestop (you get a steam key).  Does anyone know if the DLC's are worth it?  They are 2.49 each.

[Wingflier]

Yeah when you said slow paced, no experience required, progress happens at a speed which will make you tear your hair out, I thought, wow this is perfect.

There are several upcoming Sins mods that look to change the pace and the lore of the game. All of them look to be polished this summer. One in the Star Trek Universe, one in the Star Wars Universe, and one in the Halo Universe. Let's hope to god at least one of them is decent.

[x4000]

Wow, a Star Trek one would be right up their alley.

[Castruccio]

Wow, a Star Trek one would be right up their alley.

This one has already been released:  http://www.moddb.com/mods/star-trek-armada-3

[x4000]

Cool!  I think that the vanilla game is something they'd want to exhaust first, but then when that gets old I'll point them to whatever mod seems best at that point.

[Lancefighter]

Tried the star trek mod a few months back, felt like it needed (quite) a bit more polish. Hows it looking nowadays?

[Wingflier]

As I said, "There are several upcoming Sins mods that look to change the pace and the lore of the game. All of them look to be polished this summer."

All 3 of the mods I mentioned are in alpha. Unless you want to have an alpha experience, wait until they developers declare them fully released or at least in a beta format.

[chemical_art]

I would view sins mods as a bonus, not something to wait for.

Some of them advanced so slow that they were released years after a newer expansion was released...but the mod couldn't play the new expansion.

[DrFranknfurter]

I've enjoyed Sins right from the start, the mods are great though I only recently got rebellion and haven't worn out the main game yet.

As for mods: Sins of the Fallen (since it feels unique, though sadly I haven't seen ZombieRus around recently, a shame since he's a good modder) Star Wars and Star Trek mods are fun for a change but the main game should keep you occupied for quite a long time.

I found the star trek mod killed me a few times with the random events like the mysterious probe that keeps coming back when you kill it, and the game isn't set up for cloaking so it never fits properly into the mechanics. But it is the smooth management of multiple worlds, multiple fleets and the general fluidity of the mechanics that makes Sins (and any of its mods) feel timeless for me.

Talking about RTS there's the new Planetary Annihilation, bit buggy and prone to connection issues (it does some things server-side even singleplayer) but it may be worth keeping an eye on for some time in the future when it reaches a stable v1.0