Xconq - Scoring

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## Scoring

> Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival. -- WINSTON CHURCHILL (1940)

Different games can have different ways for players to win or lose. Some games may not have any scoring at all, while others have very complicated formulas. You should be aware of the scoring in effect before you start to play a game!

In Xconq, a game's scorekeepers define how scoring is to be done. Each scorekeeper tests some sort of condition and/or maintains a numeric score. Scorekeepers also define when they run (perhaps only during certain turns or certain times within a turn) and which sides to look at. Each scorekeeper is independent of the others, meaning it only takes one to decide if you win or lose.

In a game with many players, winning and losing can be a complicated issue; read the conditions carefully. A scorekeeper can also decide to declare a game to be a draw and end it on the spot.

Once a side has won, it is out of the game. Some scorekeepers only allow one winner, others allow several; in those cases, the scorekeeper will say what happens to the winning side's units.

Once a side has lost, it cannot be brought back into a game, even if another side tries to give it some more units or otherwise to reverse things.

It may also be possible to declare a draw, but all players still in a game have to agree to this. While human players just have to enter the appropriate command (or answer appropriately when asking to quit the game), AIs may not always be willing to go along, particularly if they think they still have a chance to win. If that happens, you must continue on. (Some cowards have been known to abort the program or reboot the machine, in order to avoid an ignominious fate; unfortunately Xconq is merely a program and cannot prevent such slimy tricks.)

Finally, most types of games record everybody's final scores into a file.

- Last Side Wins Scorekeeper
- Occupation Scorekeeper
- Unit Count/Sum Scorekeeper

### "Last Side Wins" Scorekeeper

The most common form of scoring in Xconq is called "last side wins". It is basically a fight to the death; any side that loses all of its units loses the game, and the last side with any units remaining is declared the winner. It is possible that more than one side will lose all of its units at the same time, in which case Xconq declares a draw.

Since this would sometimes lead to bizarre stalemates (a submarine could hide at sea, thus preventing the side from losing, for instance), many games also define point values for units. In such cases, the "last side wins" rule makes a side lose when the sum of point values of all its units is zero, and the interface will have some way to display your current points. By default, each unit of each type has a point value of 1; many games will define point values that apply to all units of the same type. Some games may also define special point values for individual units.

### Occupation Scorekeeper

Occupation means that you have one of your own units in or near a fixed location or unit.

### Unit Count/Sum Scorekeeper

This is a simple count of units, or else a summation of the values of some property, such as hit points.

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