Thanks for reading it. In this case darker just refers to the colour on the map not the actual light in the space. The all light shines only toward the Gravity well is just flavour to telegraph its nature as a kind of black hole. Good call on adding the mark for hex [3,-3], it was a late decision to make it the default entry point and I missed the opportunity. Your statement about them entering on a random hex was how I initially envisioned it. In the end, I think them effectively going back the beginning is better, it allows them to “cost analyze the loop” which makes these kinds of attrition loop games work imo.