I have no experience at all with autopots, but I really wouldn't mod the soil structure at a certain level.
I'll throw this out and see if it sticks and if anything, I'll learn about auto pots.
If they function as I think, I would run the watering rate to give an over all more dry level to where you have to manually add water like every 4 or 5 days to top off and fully water the girl.
I grow in soil. I try to think about what is the most natural way to grow. In nature, that structure doesn't exist. If you were growing outdoors in a regular garden, what would you do if your soil was too wet? I'd lower the watering rate. I played with some emitters many years ago and it worked well, but with rains, I'd have to adjust the system.
I dunno! It's just what makes sense to me. Please correct me if I there's something about auto pots I don't know!