After getting some sleep I think I figured out a way to improve the lucifer cannon. Problem with it currently is that you can charge it and keep it charged untill aliens get too close and then release a high damage aoe rocket at them. Small aliens get killed by aoe and large ones are easily hit and killed because of their size.
Having it auto-fire or overload when fully charged would still allow it to be used against structures, but no more of that "get close and you're dead" problem.