I've never been able to stave off etiolation by withholding water, plants just lose a bunch of foliage &/or die if they don't get enough water. I killed most of the succulents I got the first year I started buying them because everyone kept saying don't water them. After buying many of the same plants again and giving them more consistent conditions, I have very few casualties.
The goal most people have for their cultivated plants is a picture-perfect specimen. Extremes in conditions are forces that compromise that goal and yield a survivor appearance. Just because a plant is capable of surviving does not mean it retains the same appearance. Nothing wrong with survivor plants but if you are going for the chubby, picture-perfect, plants need what they need, and adjusting the other conditions to try to compensate for something like lower light hasn't worked for me. I have very few picture-perfect specimens from plants brought inside for winter because I don't have grow lights, just windows. So plants get stretched, develop leans, and it is what it is, but as a generalization, when they don't get water, they die. Very few plants just wait for more water, like resurrection ferns.
Using clay pots instead of plastic has also made a huge difference. The clay pots enable the roots to breathe. And not using any peat moss. Might be great stuff in desert conditions but in the humidity of my location, soggy, airless peat is an easy recipe for death for any plant, but especially succulents.
