Stardates Explained - 20181018.2300

You don't understand the startdates?

Take, for example, 20181018.2300

Let me stick some spaces in some helpful places:

2018 10 18 . 23 00

That better?

20181018 means 18th October 2018, and 2300 is in 24-hour clock format, IE 11:00PM

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

Events on this stardate