The age of collision. The age of cultural expansion. The age of Sovereignty. The age Diplomacy. The age of trade.

DARCA.

You asume the name is based on player behaviour... 

Maybe the devs will force war on you by making the AI much more agressive when they reach that era themselfs

It is possible, that even a more pacifist type player will be engaged in war mainly because they will be forced to defend themselves.

Still, I understand the OP concern.  In sandbox games, theoretically, you can set your opponents and such that "war" would hardly be a feature.  Even cultural incursion wold not be necessary if you just forge alliances with everyone.  (I'd be surprised if many people play this way... it sort of removes much of the fun of features like ship design which really wouldn't matter in a game like that).

Overall, however, the naming of the just seems to leave the door open to too many situations where what is happening doesn't match the age - unless there are meta events which trigger changes in gameplay.  (But my sense is this not the kind of thing they would do outside of the campaign).  I mean, if races spawn close together, widespread war among races can begin far before the 2nd age comes.  Or, in a really well balanced game, heated war and buildup might not reach its fiercest until the third age.  The idea of Ascension is applicable only if research victories are in play.  

In other words, the more I think about it, the more I feel that the naming of the ages has the potential to be incongruous with what is happening in the game (unless the naming of the ages could be flexible and reflect what is happening.)

We are still playing with the Age names, and even the number of ages. There are some good suggestions here, that should help.

Does it make more sense to do this perhaps?

1) On the main technology page only indicate what your CURRENT age is and a bar indicating how far you are to the next age

2) On the Tech tree, indicate all ages and when you'd hit them

to me this aleviates problems with the current system where the UI element on the main Technology page, more or less limits the # of ages, because you can't fit all that text on there. I'd say you could get maybe 4 total, 5 if your really make the ages succinct. But more than that would be impossible to fit. Not to mention localizations may have bigger problems fitting in even 3 ages! It also makes things UI consistent in that it is a 'bar that fills up' like anything you build and such.

I'd be interested to know what function these ages perform other than being cosmetic (and opening up the next tier or research).  

If it is limited to this, then my fear would be the potentially restrictive nature of almost any age name.  If you played a sandbox game on a huge map, with only one or two opponents, its very possible that significant conflict wouldn't come into play until much later, regardless of research progression.

I don't know if it is possible, but one solution could be to cause the "ages" to be tied to a secondary set of variables, that might help.

My suggestion would be:

• Have several options for the age names for each second and third ages.
• Tie age names to the meeting of certain variables, including research, military build-up, or actual conflict, or treaties and alliances.
• For example, if your entire tactic is diplomatic, the second age would be the Age of diplomacy.  This could be determined by research pursued and number of treaties actually established.
• For players that just reach a certain total of research without really specializing in anything, you could just use a generic term that covers a wide range of play experiences. "Conflict" might do just fine since there is conflict of some sort for everything.
• Provide a tangible benefit to the type of age you have entered.  
• For example, if it is clear that you have been engaged in military build-up and research, and you enter the Age of War, then in addition to opening the next tier of research, you also have certain researches available that would not otherwise be.  Or, it would trigger an event that provides some other benefit.
• One alternative would be, other than automatically assigning an age, to trigger an event which allows the player to chose what he/she will call his age - selected from a preset list of available ones.  Again, what is available might be tied to game progress.  

Well given that the first is age of expansion and the last is age of transcendence, the age names seem kind of fixed on the level of development of your civilization in as much as the current goal pervading the game at that particular point. I agree that age of war seems a little misplaced as it implies that conflict, in this case armed conflict is inevitable, which is not the case (or at least I hope as that would not leave much room for other avenues to victory).

I think age of society, imperialism,  or domination would be more fitting (linked by ideology with benevolent, pragmatic, and malevolent respectively) as it would reflect the goals and outlook of your particular civilization by that point in the game as you would no doubt have established an ideology by then. I think that those choices work as they are vague enough to incorporate multiple facets (society can be just as much about diplomacy and culture as it is about trade, technological advancement, or "peacekeeping", and imperialism and domination can have multiple connotations as well) yet distinct enough to fit with a particular ideology, so you do not have some malevolent Drengin Empire going through the age of diplomacy or commerce even if that was their research focus prior to reaching the next tier of development, because even if that was their research focus, I would strongly believe that their overall focus is to dominate the galaxy (even if it is through words and trade in this off kilter example). I think it gets back to the essence of what the other two age names really are about, focus and mindset more than just what happens to be going on at that particular point in the game. Just my thoughts though...

There should be five ages. The age of exploration, the age of expansion, the age of contention, the age of reckoning, the age of transcendence.

Good?

I was going for Age of Strife as well but was beaten to it

I agree; armed conflict should not be an inherent age. I don't know what ages are in the game now, but here are some, not in order.

Age of...

• Colonization
• Discovery
• Expansion
• Progress
• Enlightenment
• Ascension

• Age of Ages [collective "ooh" from audience]

stone age, tool age, bronze age, iron age imo. 

wololo

The Age of possible conflict, though likely some diplomacy and cultural expansion, with maybe a little more exploration; or getting stomped by alien hordes.

In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past….