It is totally possible. Also, as has been said elsewhere, the aussie team making MTW2 is not the team who made RTW, who was not the team that made MTW. Therefore, MTW2 could be as different from RTW as RTW was different from MTW.

I totally believe in people's ability to make a great AI and such. I just think there are either more graphical artists out there than programers, or programming a good AI is just a lot harder than making a nice model and skin. Either way, it's totally possible to have a game with a great AI, but you need the corporate backing, encouragement, and commandment, to ensure the quality is high.

Time will tell...