[Oversway]

I'm no expert, but here are some thoughts.

You may have good gem income from those randoms (and perhaps indie mages). Some players turn to summons: bane lords and (as I just found out) black servants if you have death gems, vine ogres for nature, etc.

You can buff your elephants with luck, body etheral so they don't become outdated quite as quickly. Your other troops (hoplites, etc.) can be a decent meat shield to protect your mages.

To deal with SCs, you have paralyze and soul slay. You can build spell focii and/or communion to get overcome their mr.

You may have good research, if so hopefully you can get to higher level spells and summon some royalty or other SCs.