A lot more happened that day.
First, repairs on the Automated Dreadnought were complete, and it was now ready to serve the Empire.
The engineers of the Salvager City-State had worked with engineering leader Bolin to restore the enormous Titan warship.
When the repaired Dreadnought sailed out of the Stellar Base, everyone erupted in enthusiastic cheers.
The warship, a relic of the ancient era, looked brand-new. Its hull had been painted a gleaming silver-white, reflecting starlight against the night sky.
Pale blue indicator lights blinked in a steady rhythm. The massive barrel of its Titan Lance was mounted firmly on the bow, ready to destroy any enemy foolish enough to invade without hesitation.
The Dreadnought was now the Empire's most powerful individual combat asset.
With a brand-new Combat Computer installed, the Dreadnought had learned the underhanded tactics of a higher-dimensional transmigrator: automatically keeping its distance in battle and exploiting its superior range to snipe targets from two astronomical units away with its Titan Lance.
Xi Yan planned to assign a dedicated fleet to the Dreadnought, but that would have to wait until battleship technology had been successfully researched.
Imagine a mass of battleships and a Dreadnought hanging back at extreme range, sniping with X Slot and T Slot weapons, while swarms of Disruptor Cruisers harassed the enemy up close with Boarding Charge tactics. Any enemy facing that lineup would be doomed.
Because in Stellaris, range was everything.
The Dreadnought was sent to the Empire's southern border, taking Disruptor Cruisers detached from the First Fleet with it to guard the far south.
South of the Cybrex Alpha Ring World lay a long, narrow corridor of star systems. Beyond that corridor, farther south, stretched a vast sector of space. This was the Empire's southern territory, where the exploration and expansion department was