...and I could have figured that out by noticing that all the won games are won in the fall. Thanks!

It is calculated before retreats though. If you capture an 18th territory and that person could retreat into one of yours to make you 17 again, you'll win before the retreat phase processes.

If I am not mistaken, you never lose an SC in the spring. It is not taken until after the autumn orders resolve.
They may be occupied, but they are still yours.

Correct, Golgo1. SC's only actually change hands in the Fall. You cannot take control of an SC in Spring. You can move there, but it doesn't effect the number of SCs held until after the Fall retreats phase.

Hibiskiss: Should it be processed before retreats? I'm pretty sure the rules say otherwise.

I think that is a bug of webdiplomacy, processing before retreats. And I believe it was mentioned some weeks ago that fixing it was in the "to do" list but, as it happens so rarely, it is not a priority.

@ JECE: Hibiskiss is correct, in that victory is calculated before retreats. Check out this recently finished game, for example:

gameID=22502

Look at St Petersburg. You'll notice that Italy captures St Petersburg on the last turn of the game. Russia had a unit in St Petersburg. You will notice that the Russian unit has not retreated (there is an adjacent territory open, so if a retreats phase had taken place, a retreat was possible) but the Russian army in St Petersburg has NOT been disbanded either - you can see this because it is clearly stated that Russia finished the game with 3 units. Therfore the game ended in a victory to Italy BEFORE the retreat phase.

I think this is a potentially serious problem and not in line with the original board game.

What do other people think?

I think i have answered your question in my previous post

I am pretty sure it works this way because otherwise every win would be delayed until after the retreat phase making every game last longer (and able to be delayed by people refusing to disband or retreat longer).

But which is worse: Delaying the inevitable in most games or getting it wrong in a few games?

Personally I wouldn't mind the delay for some post-game chatter. If it takes a few extra days to get the points, not a big deal to me.

Alderian +1.

Yeah, this isn't a minor bug. It is the diference between victory and drawing/defeat. Of course, I'm too tired to check the rules now and make sure we aren't going on nothing.

bump

Fall five-phase turn
1. Diplomatic phase 2. Order Writing phase 3. Order Resolution phase 4. Retreat and Disbanding phase 5. Gaining and Losing Units phase
After a Fall turn, if one Great Power controls 18 or more supply centers, the game ends and that player is declared the winner.

That is directly from the rulebook. I know this has been posted here before, but my feeling is that this is not something that happens even once every hundred games. And I know that Kestas is swamped with school. Maybe, someday, it can be changed. But I have not actually yet seen anyone post in the last 3 months that this would have changed the outcome of an actual game.

well said

It has happened to me in a face-to-face game, but not on here. But it remains the case that the game is failing to operate according to the proper rules.

Where is the to-do list? I've asked this before. Is it public?

Click on the Help link at the top right. Go down to the "Developer Links" or something like that and click there. Then look where it mentions the developer forum and click on that.

http://forum.webdiplomacy.net/