If you're in a situation where you're too busy and too worried about about what your opponent will say back to you, just forfeit the Round (it is more optimal, the shorter that the character count is but only if it's above 2k since if it's below 2k it's also not optimal to do).
For medium-character-limit debates where the opponent feels as if they aren't going to try too hard if you forfeit, you are better off sacrificing the Conduct point (which is only 1 vs the 3 points that arguments give) to disarm them. They won't fight back hard enough the next Round unless they are a true 'blood, sweat and tears' type of debater but you need to size your opponent up and know which one to do this with vs not.
More often than not they subsconsciously react to your forfeit with 'extend all arguments' or basically 'ah, let's see if he/she says something next Round' rather than using the extra Round to a fuller extent, expanding their points. They rarely go 'oh it's RM, he may actually turn up in a later Round and win'.
Of course, this only works for a while, eventually opponents will pick up on what you're doing but it's a 'cycle' because even if they know you do it, they can't feel the urge to put in the work for what they perceive as a free win.
This is most effective when you've noticed a flaw in the opponent's Round 1 or 2 and they (not you, they) have 2 further Rounds remaining (at least). What you want to do is forfeit so that they don't have an extra Round to bolster their case against your fatal attack to it. If you give them an extra Round of typing and reaction, you only make life harder for yourself. If they have only 1 Round left, point out the flaw so that voters don't accuse you of bringing it too late for the opponent to react, that can backfire.
