Licht

No it's not going to flower faster....but it's also not gonna go hermie or foxtail or spontaneously combust either. If you got hermie issues it's in your genetics. If your auto doesn't go into flower it's not your setup or "overstress" lol, the ruderalis trait just fell on the recessive side of the gene pool(in which case you would wanna go 12/12 but I wouldn'tgo back to 18). People need to stop making excuses for bad genetics.

No, auto will not flower faster if you switch to 12 hours of light. If your auto already should have started flowering but it didn't - something off with your setup, maybe there is not enough light intensity, not enough proper nutrients, plant is stressed by LST and so on.

This unfortunately doesn't help. Automatics run on a timer that you can't influence. Why the rush? Most autos start going into flowering automatically after 3-4 weeks (hence the name). There are "flower boosters" like Sugar Royal from Plagron that are supposed to kick things into gear. Patience is what you need the most in this hobby. I mean, get a bit more of that... or switch to photos, then you'll have the control you want here.

you can only achieve for plant to go cookoo aka hermie or foxtaily bud if you will be playing with light duration. Fact. i dont get even smallest point why you think shorter day will make any benefit for auto ...