Autoflowers - how do they work?

What lights are best? hps/mh

What lights cycle? 18/6 12/12

anything else would be helpful

I'm not incredibly knowledgeable about autoflowers, but I think they require a lot of the same conditions as normal plants.

While they are vegging you would want a 6500k light and once they begin to flower, switch over to 2700k.

For light cycles - you don't have to change from an 18/6 to a 12/12 because they are going to flower regardless of photoperiod. I've seen both 18/6 and 24/0 recommended in other threads.

You dont have to switch from 18/6 to 12/12. And what comes from the lights mh for vegging and hps for flowering (once you see some flowers on them) but ofc a mh/hps mix would work just fine.