Liby Phoenicians rock, lancearii? *smh*

[Entropy Judge]

don't they take a penalty for being allied troops? morale pentalty?

Nope, no penalties. Carthage does, IIRC, have some associated Morale Penalties in its Type III or IV Government types ... but those don't work. Neither do any Morale Bonus effects. Kinda makes some temples and buildings less useful.

anyway what are the pros anc cons of factional troops vs allied troops..

Depends on the faction, region, and Reform level. Camillan Rome (and Polybian, for that matter), for example, is better off using Regional units if they do any expansion, because their Factional units are restricted to Italy-only recruitment, and it can take a long time to get Principes to a battle-line in, say, Northern Germany or Western Iberia. On the other hand, Marian or Imperial Rome has access to Factional troops in about half the map, so they don't really need any Regionals.

Some factions get more efficient or effective units via Regionals than Factionals. For example, the Aedui and Arverni have access to the cheap, plentiful, and effective Teceitos as a Factional unit ... but only for the first (first two?) Reform levels. However, they have access to two absolutely wonderful Regional Axe units, the Tekastos and the Asturian Axemen (in the Alps and Northern Iberia). Some factions get better Heavy units as regionals than they do as Factional units

does the level of barracks required to recruit allied troops have any penalties or bonuses, I noticed that some allied troops get experience bonuses.

Barracks don't give any XP bonuses, although Government Types usually do (for almost everyone, I think, Type IV Government gives a +1 XP bonus).

[TWWolfe]

Pontos especially Has some of the best regionals, which helps since they seem to have So few Factional troops to recruit even in thier homelands

[chomskola]

Interesting,so entropy,so effectivelty regionals and factionals are the same?no building morale bonuses or maluses work...the only reason to use factionals AOTBE is for role playing.

[Entropy Judge]

Role-play, availability, and effectiveness. Generally, you'll have 'better' access to Faction units than you will to Regionals (IE, you won't be getting super-awesome regional units, only low- and mid-tier ones), and depending on your faction, your faction troops might be better-suited for the job in question than regionals you can (realistically) hire. As I mentioned above, Marian and Imperial Rome have *huge* AoRs for their Faction units, and Marian and Imperial Legions are extremely cost-effective, which makes using Regionals for anything other than flavour or specific duties (pikes or AP) less attractive.

But yes, there is no difference between Faction units and Regional units (and Mercenary units, for that matter).