Mercenaries, Morale and Munchies

[aldin]

So in the interest of exploring the concepts a bit further:

Mercs: Why do they seem SO powerful early in the game? It almost feels like cheating to amass a few armies of mercs in an SP game and go stomping through the countryside. Do experienced players limit themselves to a single merc contract at any given time to keep the challenge up?

Also, in MP, how much do these guys go for? Double the asking price?

Morale: I seem to notice I lose a lot of combats I would win with a morale reinforcing priest. Are morale boosting items as good as having a priest along? Should you always try to send a priest with a merc army?

Munchies: How bad is the starvation effect? I've had it happen for a couple of turns but it didn't seem to have a big effect on my army. Is it worse the more you exceed the supply cap?

Thanks for the enlightenment!

~Aldin