[iVanDuzer]

I think a clear line has to be drawn between competition and match strategy. The distinction is that competition strategy is the strategy your team decides to go with over the course of the weekend, while match strategy is the agreed strategy of each alliance on a match-to-match basis.

Meta Coopertition
In my opinion, the coopertition bridge is solely a match strategy item. This is because the incentive to use the bridge changes from match to match. Furthermore, each robot on the field should be acting in their own best interests. If those interests include not coopertating, then all power to them. But what should NOT happen is having the vested interests of a team that is not playing in the match be a strategic factor. If you aren't on the field, you should have no say whether or not the teams that are coopertate.

If you are selectively choosing which teams to balance with, then that's fine. But the line is crossed when you try to convince other teams not to balance. To balance or not to balance is each individual alliance's concern, not teams'.

Coopertition Bridge Defense
Should not be allowed. There are inherent risks to defending a robot on that sort of playing surface. What if you're a rookie team that agrees to coopertate, but your alliance partner doesn't like that, so they tip the bridge while you're on it. In this situation, you fall off the bridge and your robot, which is not as robust as it should be (but hey, you're a rookie, how could you know?) is damaged and prevents you from using your shooter for the rest of the weekend.

As for less violent defense, the answer is still no. When you're on the field, you are an ALLIANCE, and therefore must act in the ALLIANCE's best interest. I'll talk more about this below.

Throwing Matches
In your scenario, Red is not asking Blue to throw the match. Red is asking to coopertate. How could they know that Blue's strategy depends on the robot they just asked to balance? It's Blue's decision whether or not to coopertate or not. What should happen is a Blue alliance meeting, where the idea of coopertating is presented. If the alliance decides to coopertate, then they coopertate. If they decide not to, then they don't. No hard feelings. Like I said, the value of the coopertition bridge changes from match to match. If an alliance feels that a win is better than a coopertition balance, then power to them.

(Although, if the chances of winning were so slim that you need a double balance to even have a shot at winning, then I'd go with the coopertition. 2 guaranteed points are better than none if you mess up a balance.)

6v0
Your scenario should never happen. If Blue decides to hand Red the win, then why take any shots at all? Why even run autonomous? Or if autonomous has to be run every time, turn your robot around so they shoot away from Blue's nets. OR if you still want to show you can score, pull a 2010 and score on the Red hoops.

----------

Remember, coopertition requires cooperation. Not just between alliances, but between teams on your alliance. If a team doesn't want to balance because doing so would hurt their seeding then fine, BUT if another team on that alliance wants to balance, is it your place to stop them? NO! This is where the good of the many vs the good of the few comes in. Maybe your seeding chances would be hurt because of a coopertition bonus. But if the other teams on your alliance would benefit from an extra 2 CP/QP, then you should support their choice to balance. You don't have to balance yourself, you just need to agree not to stop them from balancing. You don't need to be happy about it. But, it's the gracious thing to do.

Just my $0.02