I could give a few details on the troops if you want; you could try finding a more detailed and experienced troop tree on the M&B official forum if you want, but I can't find anything particular useful to me in the forum.
France Empire has a great variety of cavalries with fine quality, as always: the veteran cuirassier only take three stages to be upgraded from recruits, so it won't be expensive to raise a regiment of french cuirassiers of about 20-30 troops, though more time is needed. The cuirassiers wear 30d caseque, 60-70d cuirass; the veterans wear 40 helm and 80 cuirass, making them vicious warriors even if they are dismounted. I think you can't recruit standard bearer for them in 1.2, though.
Hussar d'Elite is the dragoons for France Empire. They have 1 horse musketry and about 190 musketry which give them a slight advantage over other mounted units, but a small group of Royal Dragoons of UK could easily overwhelm them. The other branch of the Hussars, the Chasseures, wield a pistol (mostly An XII but sometimes Sea service pistol), making them not worthy to be upgraded.
French Grenadier de la Ville Garde (think it is called that) is one of the strongest line infantry in the game: 52+ hp, 5 athletics, 225 polearm and 215 musketry make them deadly with a musket in both long range and short range. The death rate won't exceed 50% even if they are faced with equal number of Russian top grade lancers under 100% difficulty, while other infantries would suffer from 60%-90% death rate easily. It takes five stages to reach the highest level: recruits, militia, grenadier a Pied, imperial grenadier guard, and finally de la Ville Garde. A corresponding standard bearer could be hired.
The light infantry line of France, the Voltigeurs, is quite famous at that time, but their skills is slightly worse than Grenadier guards: their athletic skills are low just like other light infantries; their musketry skill is 215 when fully upgraded. It only take about three stages (if my memory doesn't fail me) to reach the highest level, however, and can be considered as a quicker substitution for the guards. A corresponding standard bearer could be hired.
*The Grenadier d'Honnor, the guards of the doors of city halls seems to have a far better skill on polearms upon combat (when I once attempt to save a British prisoner from Paris) even than de la Ville Garde. Try not to do the mission in the default sneaker suit with only a dagger, because the failure is certain if you do so.
One little thing: in almost every country (maybe not so much for UK and Prussia) there is always one or two branches that is a bit awkward. For example, line infantries are supposed to form a rank, build up volley fire, and act as a main force of advance, so generally their athletic skills are high (5-6 for most veteran line infantries), but their musketry is usually lower than specialized fusiliers as their advantages are discipline and their number. Light infantries are supposed to scatter out in an open field, find cover, and use their muskets to batter enemy's troops instead of just suppressing them, as well as taking down base officers like Corpals and Lieutenants to disrupt enemy's command system, but they should not be used to advance on the enemy and start melee fights for their low pole-arm skills.
HOWEVER! There are Fusilier de Ligne (line fusilier) from France and fusilier-grenadier from Italy, both having their points distributed to other irrelevant skills like riding (having a riding skill of 3), and high pole-arm skills (200+) while wielding a musket without bayonet (for it will make the whole musket unbalanced and making it ineffective in long range), leaving their actual musketry fluctuate at around 135-190, making them highly vulnerable before both cavalries and other fusiliers. Though in the history fusilier-grenadier is a very powerful regiment, being able to engage in melee fights, medium range shootings, and siege works with equal excellence, the skills of them in game are simply not worth mentioning. The only advantage of having them is that you could hire one more standard bearer, which would add to party's moral.
Therefore: do not trust any 'fusilier', 'mushketer', or 'voltigeur' on the line infantry line unless you are working for UK, and even that you should choose light fusiliers for better combat effect.
