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There are a number of reasons why the requirements are what they are. Without knowing the exact compiler flags used, we can expect that Pentium was specified. Further, for all we know, MMX instructions may be used, which did not exist even in the original Pentium processor.
Think about it, the "standard" instruction set we see in processors have been evolving, and in order to compete, Intel keeps adding new extensions. AMD did come up with 3DNow(which never really went anywhere), and of course the 64 bit extensions(which Intel not only copied but claimed as their own by putting a different name on them).
So, we can expect that MMX may or may not be required, SSE(the original). I'm not sure if SSE 2 would have been required. AMD has SSE 2 and 3 at this point, but it's all about what Firaxis would have expected to be in processors.
I will tell you this though, with a huge world and 17 AI civs on noble difficulty, it takes a while between worlds later on in the game on an Athlon 64 3200+(socket 754 ver, 2.2GHz) and 2 gigs of system memory. If you could handle waiting, and waiting, and waiting, I suppose it MIGHT work, but also keep in mind that Civ 4 had a target of Windows XP, and XP really really needs more system memory than almost every 486 system you could hope to put together.
It would be easier to find a Pentium 4 1.6GHz machine that someone is throwing out than trying to get a 486 running Windows 98 to run the game properly without problems.
Think about it, the "standard" instruction set we see in processors have been evolving, and in order to compete, Intel keeps adding new extensions. AMD did come up with 3DNow(which never really went anywhere), and of course the 64 bit extensions(which Intel not only copied but claimed as their own by putting a different name on them).
So, we can expect that MMX may or may not be required, SSE(the original). I'm not sure if SSE 2 would have been required. AMD has SSE 2 and 3 at this point, but it's all about what Firaxis would have expected to be in processors.
I will tell you this though, with a huge world and 17 AI civs on noble difficulty, it takes a while between worlds later on in the game on an Athlon 64 3200+(socket 754 ver, 2.2GHz) and 2 gigs of system memory. If you could handle waiting, and waiting, and waiting, I suppose it MIGHT work, but also keep in mind that Civ 4 had a target of Windows XP, and XP really really needs more system memory than almost every 486 system you could hope to put together.
It would be easier to find a Pentium 4 1.6GHz machine that someone is throwing out than trying to get a 486 running Windows 98 to run the game properly without problems.
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