Yeah on Noble I still find Civ 4 fairly challenging, actually. I've won a few times and I've lost a few times. Below Noble it's relatively easy once you get the hang of it, but at Noble...seriously, there's a lot of thought involved in playing on Noble. And of course above Noble it's hard, if only because you're penalized above that point (where Noble is the "break even" difficulty where you're balanced with the computer).
Seriously though, FFH2 is fantastic by comparison with Civ 4 (and Civ 4 is itself rather fantastic). It's much more complicated with a myriad of new mechanics and legitimate specialization--the tech tree is actually very, very branched, instead of linear like in vanilla Civ. Upgrades are more in-depth, and combat is made more interesting with things like magic and such mixing up the more traditional combat in new, dynamic ways. It's especially good for multiplayer, as diplomacy isn't quite as huge of a deal due to that very same specialization of tech trees (and diplomacy in multiplayer tends to be kinda spotty).
I should find my disks and play some FFH2 some time...
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