The trend was such as:
RTS with base building, poor path finding and cheating AI [last 90s],
RTS with base building, better pathfinding and improved AI (only cheats on harder levels) [early to mid 2000s]
RTS with base building, squad units and territory conquest [mid 2000s]
RTT/RTS mix (less units, less eco, more micro) [last 2000s to early 2010s]
RTS/MOBA mix (hero units, simpler eco, dumber maps).
As long as the net multiplayer become more relevant, the AI development stopped and the microing with few units started