Gents:
Military Production Points (MPPs) are the "currency" and "heart" of this game.
Military Production Points ("MPPs") are collected at the end of each turn and are based on the number of cities, mines and oil resources currently owned or occupied by either side. MMPs are than multiplied by the country's industrial factor to determine the number of MPPs per turn.
Each side uses MPPs to purchase new units (Special Forces, engineers, paratroops, anti-tank, anti-air, artillery, tank groups, fighters, tactical bombers, battleships, cruisers, destroyers, aircraft carriers, submarines, partisans)... invest in research to improve unit capabilities... upgrade and reinforce units in the field... engage in diplomacy, etc.
Also, players need to understand the different capabilities and uses for each of their military units. For example, destroyers are excellent when used against enemy subs, but not very effective supporting troop landings. HQ's can influence the readiness of units under its command and provide a combat moral bonus. Engineers can build fortifications. Artillery units can provide both offensive and defensive fire. Fighter and tactical bomber units can provide either close air support (CAS) to assist ground units. Fighters can provide close air protection (CAP) to protect beach landings and other friendly units.
All of these rules are explained in the 164 page manual (.pdf file) that comes with the game. However, I did a quick scan of the movement and combat rules... played several turns of the tutorial... and quickly picked up on the mechanics. I just reference the game manual as needed.
Again, the mechanics of the game are intuitive and easy to grasp. The real "strategic thinking" are the decisions players need to make each turn. Do you purchase new units? Do you upgrade units in the field? Do you reinforce units? Do you invest in anti-air capability versus anti-tank capability? Do you land amphibious troops on Guam? Do you support the landings with a battleship? Do you provide CAS for these troops? What about enemy subs that may be lurking in the area? Should you deploy some destroyers to protect the invasion fleet? How large an invasion fleet do you send to the Philippines? Do you send back your aircraft carriers to resupply / refit in a port or keep them at sea? Do you reinforce your holdings in China? Or is it better to support offensive operations in another part of the Pacific? etc.
Here's a breakdown of the various units in Strategic Command WW2: Pacific Theater.
Land Units
Land units are vital for defeating enemy land forces as well as capturing enemy territory and resources. The effective use of land forces can indeed be the difference between victory and defeat. The following is a breakdown of the various land units found in the game:
HEADQUARTERS
Generally a strategic unit that provides leadership and logistical support to subordinate units, a Headquarters (HQ) unit might be as large as a Corps-sized unit – containing reserves and combat support elements to support major operations – or smaller and more mobile such as those deployed by both sides to North Africa. It is not defenseless, but cannot conduct an attack on its own.
CORPS
In general, the standard Corps in the Second World War was approximately 40,000 to 60,000 men. In the Pacific Theater, the British Empire, the USA and the USSR field Corps as their main infantry units.
ARMY
In the Pacific Theater, China and Japan field Armies that were roughly comparable to British, US, or Soviet Corps.
TANK GROUP
Tank units in the Pacific Theater vary from small armored units fielded by Australia, British India, Japan and the USA, of approximately brigade or divisional strength, through to the larger operational formations fielded by the USSR. Given their size and experience of four years of armored warfare on the Eastern Front, Soviet armored units have two strikes, whereas all other armored units only have one.
SPECIAL FORCES
Special Forces are the elite. In the Pacific Theater the most prominent will be US Marine divisions, Japanese Special Naval Landing Force (SNLF) units and Wingate’s Chindits. Highly motivated, these units have the special ability to take to amphibious transports from any coastal tile, not necessarily only from those tiles that are adjacent a friendly port, and they make ideal shock troops for island hopping campaigns.
ENGINEERS
Engineers can be used to build fortifications to help strengthen defenses against enemy land attacks and amphibious operations. While fortifications are not as strong as fortresses such as Corregidor or Singapore, they represent substantial improvements such as dragon's teeth, trench lines and barbed wire. Building fortifications is covered in more detail under the Advanced Rules section. These units are considered Construction Engineers and were effectively used by all sides. Combat Engineers, on the other hand, which participated in countless offensive and defensive operations throughout the war, are presumed to be an integral part of theother combat units in the game.
PARATROOPS
Paratroops Paratroops can help negate defensive advantages by dropping behind enemy lines and onto enemy held islands, either by parachute or in gliders. Notable airborne operations in the Pacific Theater included the Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies in 1942, the dropping of Wingate’s Chindits behind enemy lines in Burma in 1944, and numerous US drops in the liberation of the Philippines in 1944-45.
ANTI-TANK
Given the large concentrations of armor deployed in WWII, some countries developed large formations of anti-tank guns. This was more the case on the Eastern Front than in the Pacific Theater, but nearly all nations have the ability to field anti-tank units should they desire. As they specialize in fighting armored units, they are weak in the face of attack by enemy infantry units.
ANTI-AIRCRAFT
As strategic bombers played a major role in WWII, these units represent massed antiaircraft batteries deployed to protect vital resources. Japan will have especial need of them in the face of long range US bomber strikes.
ARTILLERY
Artillery units represent concentrations of heavy artillery, deployed at key points to either bolster the defense or support an attack. Artillery units can be useful in lowering unit entrenchment and/or to demoralize an enemy unit during an initial artillery bombardment phase preceding regular combat. Artillery units also feature automatic defensive fire for any attack on friendly units within the Artillery unit’s strike range radius.
ROCKETS
Rockets can be used to attack strategic resources as well as regular land, air, or naval units. The key advantage of Rockets is that their attacks cannot be opposed, so they will only lose strength points from direct attack by other units. Rockets were developed primarily by Germany in the hopes that these novel "wonder weapons" might bring decisive victory at minimal cost. In the end though, these weapons failed to play a decisive strategic role due to their late introduction and the limited numbers that were produced. In the Pacific Theater only the USSR can field Rockets and without a substantial investment in research, they are unlikely to play a major contribution to the allied war effort.
PARTISANS
Partisans can help pin down enemy units, hinder the supply of resources, and disrupt military production in their areas of operation.
Partisan resistance to the Japanese played a major role in the war in China and elsewhere such as South East Asia. As a result, the Japanese will face attacks to their supply and infrastructure, and occasionally these will develop into full-scale uprisings in certain areas. The smaller partisan units are abstractly represented by certain supply events, though actual units may be added using the Editor.
Here are the air units.
Air Units
Air units can play an important role in long-range pre-emptive strikes as well as destroying an enemy’s strategic assets.
FIGHTERS
Fighters, as their name would suggest, specialize in winning air superiority and are quite useful when placed in the immediate vicinity of operational or strategic targets and activated as interceptors, or used as escorts for strategic bombing attacks. While they can be used to attack any valid target, their value in ground or naval attacks is quite limited in comparison to Tactical Bombers.
TACTICAL BOMBERS
Tactical bombers specialize in ground and naval attack. With fighter escort, their contribution to ground offensives or in supporting naval units can be vital. Tactical Bombers can be considered as a form of air artillery and as such are also very useful in lowering unit entrenchment and/or in demoralizing an enemy unit during an initial artillery bombardment phase preceding regular combat. Tactical Bombers have the advantage over regular artillery to be quickly moved around the battlefield due to their higher Action Point values but may also be grounded due to bad weather making them ineffective during these turns. Tactical Bombers are also vulnerable to Fighter interception so proper escorts are also key to any offensive strategy.
BOMBERS
Bombers have the capability to strike twice in a single turn, just like Carriers. They can be used to attack any valid land, air, or naval units, but are most effective against resources. The strategic bombing of enemy cities and other resource areas can reduce the enemy's overall military production. In addition, bombing enemy ports can greatly hinder the enemy’s ability to reinforce, re-supply and re-equip their naval units, thus bombers can have a major role in winning the large naval battles that will occur in the Pacific. Bombers can spot enemy resource strengths within their spotting range under Fog of War (FoW). This is useful in selecting appropriate resource targets for strategic bombing runs as well as to determine the success of a strategic bombing strike. Bombers played a significant role in the Pacific Theater, especially in the later stages of the war when US bombers carried out large-scale raids on Japan, including the firestorm raids on Tokyo and dropping the Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Here are the naval units.
Naval Units
Naval units can be used to help control or threaten vital sea-lanes as well as conducting shore bombardments prior to and during amphibious invasions. Naval units are mostly task forces representing several combat and support vessels clustered around a named capital ship. A special consideration should be noted for Battleships, Cruisers and Destroyers in that they can also be used to direct automatic defensive fire against Amphibious Transports that end their move adjacent to one of these ships. By placing these naval units in key defensive areas, coastal or otherwise, it can be quite helpful in preventing successful amphibious landings by your enemy.
BATTLESHIPS
Battleships are the storied "Behemoths of the Seas" and were mostly used in surface combat. They can also be quite powerful when used for shore bombardments. These offshore attacks can be directed against coastal land or air units as well as resources. Prior to WWII, battleships had long been considered the pinnacle symbol of naval power. However, as Japan’s devastating raid on Pearl Harbor showed, the Pacific Theater was the realm of the aircraft carrier, and although battleships still played a role
for the rest of the war, it was secondary in importance to that of the carrier.
CRUISERS
Cruisers can be used to escort Battleships and Carriers. Cruisers can also be used as "Battle Cruisers" in regular surface naval combat and for shore bombardments, though they are not as devastating as the Battleships.
DESTROYERS
Destroyers are small and fast naval units that specialize in escort and submarine hunting, for which they are especially useful. Their small size and lack of firepower means that they will normally be easily outclassed in a naval engagement with enemy Battleships or Cruisers; therefore it is best to concentrate them in areas where enemy submarine activity is expected.
CARRIERS
With their extended strike range, Carrier units can be extremely useful in advanced strikes upon land, air and other naval units. Their torpedo bombers are particularly effective against naval targets, although their land and strategic attacks are limited. The widespread use of aircraft carriers in the Pacific marked the beginning of a new form of naval warfare.
Carriers have a number of different modes:
· Fighter (Combat Air Patrol)
· Naval/Tactical
· Mix
If you are in Naval/Tactical Mode then the CAP mode is disabled and the Auto/Intercept/ Escort/Ground setting is removed from the Carrier. If you are in Fighter or Mix Mode then you can set the CAP mode to one of the following:
· Auto (this is the default setting)
· Intercept
· Escort
· Ground
It is very important to select the correct mode based on the situation, particularly as once the carrier has moved or attacked it cannot change mode until your next turn.
SUBS
Submarines can be effective in regular naval combat but their great inherent strength lies in their stealthy ability to disrupt enemy convoys. This special ability is of major importance in the Pacific Theater as Japan’s economy relies on convoys from Manchukuo and South East Asia. Convoy raiding by Subs is covered in more detail under the Advanced Rules section. Although the German U Boats deployed in the Battle of the Atlantic are more famous, the Allies’ submarine attacks on Japanese shipping in the Pacific have been considered to be one of the biggest single factors in Japan’s defeat.
TRANSPORTS
Transports were used to move land units across fixed bodies of water. In terms of combat, transports are quite weak since they cannot attack and their defense is poor, but they are essential to any campaign in the Pacific Theater. Transports can only load or unload units at a friendly-controlled port.
AMPHIBIOUS TRANSPORTS
Amphibious Transports were used throughout the Pacific Theater to conduct invasions against enemy controlled shores. Invasion fleets consisted of various landing craft, notably the "Higgins boat" developed by the Allies. An amphibious invasion could achieve surprise and decisive results if executed properly. Unlike regular Transports, Amphibious transports can be used to unload units directly onto coastal tiles, either friendly or enemy controlled. Amphibious Transports may also unload units at a friendly controlled port.
Lots of units to play! 
Regards, Mike / "A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week." - George S. Patton /
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Strategic Command WW2: Pacific Theater - Who owes and plays it?
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