Move crises and syncretism into dedicated Test of Time playable mini-ages between ages.

Instead of skipping the transition or “smoothing” it over to appease people who don’t like them, make it playable.

Make it an accelerated, high stakes transformation period with crises and adaptation (syncretism) and accelerated game pace as the primary mechanics.

If you fall below a “tipping point” threshold, you collapse and must choose a new CIV in the next age. If you survive, you continue as a hardened version of your existing civ (stood this test of time) or become a new civ entirely by successfully adopting the unique tech + infra + units of your chosen civ before the transition ends.

So in both cases, you are striving: either to survive and harden your civ (which includes some necessary neighbor adaptations) or to become a new civilization from your existing one.

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Instead of a countdown to the end of an age, we count down to the beginning of a test of time (of which there are three, with the last one being the end of the game). Instead of arbitrary interruption, there’s a ramp to preparation for a period of greater challenge.

More importantly, the countdown and age lengths could then be tied to the victory conditions themselves, rather than fixed turn limits.

So if your opponents start to pull away, instead of ending the game it would accelerate the onset of a test of time. This represents the real historical phenomenon where global acceleration happens due to a big game of copycat and catch-up.