I've noticed with Google Core Web Vitals that my Invisible reCAPTCHA gets loaded with post before registering and reduces my overall PageSpeed score. Granted, lots of the native JS and CSS is already slowing things down, but everything can help, especially since speed on mobile is a ranking factor.

 

I can shut this setting off and stop it, but am concerned about getting flooded.

Just a suggestion, but maybe remove reCAPTCHA loading on the page/editor and have it load on the registration form after you click submit reply instead, this way the page doesn't take the load/hit.

 

I noticed if I shut this setting off, I still get a recpatcha on the registration form and then it's off on the actual topic page. However, will this cause a flood of spammers/bots? Not sure, is there a Post Before Register log?