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, some games may record everybody's final scores into a file.