Does that answer hold if the UT has already been revealed? Ex: I assumed you couldn’t trade for a face-up Altar of the Loa based on the below related entry for Wolves. When I wanted to make the trade, Altar was the only coin on the wild island being targeted, so it wouldn’t have been random.
Face up treasures on an island are included in the random draw, but if a face up treasure can’t be loaded (which the ship must do), then it gets ignored by the draw. If the only treasure(s) left on an island are face up UTs that can’t be loaded, you have to either choose a different island or simply not use the ability at all.
ADDED: If there’s only one face down treasure left on an island it’s technically not random either, but as long as it can still be loaded it can be chosen.
I would contend that a d6 roll is almost a must to determine the random selection (such as 1-2: face up Altar, 3-4: face down coin #1, 5-6: face down coin #2). If it’s a draw bag, does the treasure that was face up get placed back face up? If so, it would require an outside entity to ensure that the face down treasures stay hidden. (or have a player that already explored that island look at them to find the coin that needs to be face up and flip it, but the treasure situation on the island could have changed, and could give them an advantage if they had forgotten what else was on the island but then were reminded of it)
If it’s a draw bag where the coins get essentially shuffled face down and there is no “referee” to oversee the correct treasure getting flipped face up again, is this a way to potentially force a face up treasure to go face down again? (and therefore making it a possible target of future trades again. Quite a specific situation, but adds to my point above about why a reshuffling/draw bag would be problematic in many cases)
A draw bag is just one example, but as you pointed out, it won’t work in all situations, so rolling a die will probably be easier and more reliable. Any treasures that were face up before the draw do remain (or get returned) face up after, and vice-versa.
Are all ships affected by the Foul Winds event moved in the exact same direction? I assume so, but it does say “any ship” instead of “all ships”.
The wording is weird, but it does apply to all ships in the affected area. Because it specifies “one direction”, they all must move in the same single direction.
Can you flip an abandoned crew face up just to make it crew so you can use the free transfer rule with it? Normally you can only flip a crew when using it’s abilities I think, but this seems like a good exception to that since you may want the abandoned crew to be treated as crew as soon as possible after loading them onto a ship.
No, you can only flip them by using their abilities.
I just want to confirm I have the “Explorer loophole” correct: Ship with 3 total cargo spaces docks at island. She has helmsman and explorer. She unloads the helmsman as part of the explore action and then loads two coins. Explore action ends. Then she uses the free transfer rule to swap out the explorer and get her helmsman back.
I think that’s the main gist of it? I’ve had to repeatedly dig into the Explore Action order of operations with some of the tournament games, and the last part really stands out because it doesn’t require loading treasure before unloading crew.
Yep, that’s essentially it. As long as you have at least one other crew besides the Explorer on the ship that you can unload during the free explore action, you can do the crew shuffle after finishing it.