All this happened, more or less.

What if the Serpent was just plain stupid, not craftier or subtle, as Gen. 3.1 describes it? Would the result be any different? The more I think about it, the more I have doubts about the value of assigning evil intent to this particular beast's action. Mostly, because it limits our ability to see alternative ways to damage a system. It's also been traditionally used to stigmatizes science for being "more craftier than all the beast of the field which the Lord God had made."
On the other hand, had the Serpent been stupid the Woman probably would not listen to his arguments. Was her choice of "a tree to be desired to make one wise" the result of confusion between knowledge and wisdom?

Putting moral issues aside for a moment, all we can say that for whatever reason long-term consequences of one's action were not considered properly, even when they were stated explicitly by The Lord God. What was not stated explicitly, though, and maybe at the time The Lord God didn't even know how it all was going to play out, was the timing and the specifics of the "thou shalt surely die"( Gen. 2.17) That's what the Serpent either exploited or blundered into because of his hubris or stupidity.

What would be one's strategy when under similar circumstance one is put in the position of the Woman, or, as a matter of fact, of The Lord God?