We also see that the Senate comes with a busy social calendar -- one seen as an obligation. Presumably, like all monarchs in history, the Emperor will have to participate in these social events to ensure that key Senators see the personal advantage to their participation in the imperial project.
In A New Hope, the minute Palpatine has his Death Star he dissolves the Senate, believing he no longer needs the administrative infrastructure it provides to maintain his grip on the galaxy.
Thus, I think it is reasonable to conclude from Andor that Emperor Palpatine constructed the Death Star so he could stop having to go to boring parties.