You clearly never asked me then! Here is but 1 example of many where I found the basistic machinegun to be a life saver.
The very first time I encountered androns. My riflemen were almost useless against their dtrong armour, the only weapons i had that reliably took down an andron in a single action? The balistic MG.
My snipers enjoyed success too, but they needed more than one action to do it.