"Combat support units"

[tomoose]

Howdy gents, finally upgraded to ver1.5 and the game's running great but, guess what, a couple of questions about the new 'features';

Again, I did a search but I guess I'm not using the right combo of words.
The "newer" manual with the Gold Edition doesn't have ONE entry on this stuff, gahhhh!!!!

1. LOL, I noticed the extra 'pencil' on the map screen which is for "combat support units". What exactly does it do?

2. I noticed on the new message clipboard there's a special area called "Captain's abilities". What exactly does it do and how do I use it?

3. The "special abilities" I've found in some posts but they only state how they are awarded and not what they do, can someone clarify please?

If this info is sitting in a Sticky somewhere, by all means, fire my butt in that direction, LOL, as I said I tried searching but didn't find the answer I was looking for. Apologies for any inconvenience (i.e. answering yet another of the same questions )