Offworld Trading Company freezes on "Initializing Tachyon" - never starts

Windows Version Number: Windows 11 (10.0.26200)

Hello,

My game freezes every time on startup at "[Tachyon] Initializing Tachyon
with version number: 1.24.81857" and never goes past this point.

The game window opens (white/black screen) but stays unresponsive forever.

My setup:
- OS: Windows 11 (10.0.26200)
- CPU: Intel Core i3-8145U
- GPU: Intel UHD Graphics 620
- RAM: 4 GB
- Game version: 1.24.81857 (build 25913771)
- Steam: all 1671 files verified OK

What I tried:
- Verified game files (all 1671 files OK)
- Lowered all graphics settings to LOW, windowed mode
- Steam offline mode
- Ran SDCR64.exe before launching
- Running as administrator

Log always stops at the exact same line:
[Tachyon] Initializing Tachyon with version number:1.24.81857

I also noticed that DNS lookup for "tachyon.stardock.com" returns
"Non-existent domain". Could the Tachyon server be down or moved?

Thank you for your help.