Hey there, I started 2 games with the Ardent Mages on Serious and they never seem to get off the ground. I have beaten the game with the Walkers a few years ago and got stuck in not being able to declare war to take the region I need with the Clans this weekend, but the Mages... seem to have trouble getting the snowball rolling.

Are you playing with or without ELCP? Also are you playing to the strengths of the Mages? They need dust and towers to excel...if you're not using their towers, then they are going to struggle. The science towers makes them extremely efficient at researching especially early on. Then they have towers for Food, Dust and Influence. Researching arcana levels makes each tower even more powerful.

They are not so great in the hands of the AI relatively speaking....but they are potentially very powerful in the hands of a competent player.

I'll recommend this guide:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=338506254