I see a point in option 1) only at the very beginning.
Up to 4-7* titans (which exactly depends from alliance to alliance), often a titan with N stars is very easy to beat (killed in less than 11h even if the members start almost empty on flags), while a titan with N+1 stars is still very hard and flees more often than not.
Suppose you’re in such an alliance and N is 4 for you: 4* easy, 5* pretty hard/escapes often.
If you’re facing a 5* that you know will flee, most probably you will face a 4* afterwards. Since you know that beating it in under 11h won’t require the alliance to be full on flags, you can spend some more hits on the 5* to practice on it. I’d only recommend not to waste items (or just use very cheap ones) when you perform these practice hits, otherwise you’re not wasting flags in the end, but you’re wasting your arsenal.
EDIT: the further hits on a titan about to escape can also be used to improve one’s loot tier, although I would consider it only in the case described above, or similar. Reference: