[Psitticine]

Cherry,

I tend to play on small maps with 1 or 2 AI (time constraints are in play there - I think I'll actually prefer the flip side now that I'm not trying to make sure I've sampled and tested every little thing!) and the AI definitely likes the mercs, especially in the early game, no matter how many AI opponents you have.

In the first game I won (Myself as Ermor vs. Machaka), I was closing on their home province, feeling good they didn't seem to have anybody good in between, when suddenly the mercs started coming in. I finally started outbidding the AI just to keep them from stopping my offense. So, the AI does use them late-game as well, but it seems like it waits until there's more of a reason to (e.g. all of its normal troops are either bottled up or dead, and there's no time for recruitment).

Merc contracts are always, without exception, 3 turns. You bid, as always, to sign them back up, but if it is your contract that is expiring, your bid counts double in terms of how influential it is. (So a bid of 30 beats a bid of 59 when you're resigning them instead of hiring them fresh.) This bonus only Lasts until they are fully gone from your service, which is the very next turn afterwards.

A good tip on setting merc prices: the + and - keys allow much faster adjustment of those prices than clicking with the arrow pointer.