Stardates Explained - 20180302.1250

You don't understand the startdates?

Take, for example, 20180302.1250

Let me stick some spaces in some helpful places:

2018 03 02 . 12 50

That better?

20180302 means 2nd March 2018, and 1250 is in 24-hour clock format, IE 12:50PM

Stardates in the Star Trek universe work in an entirely different way. Wikipedia has a good explanation on how Stardates work.