I have the same luck as anyone else. I just play too much, bending the law of large numbers in my favor. You just don't hear about the runs that restart after getting eaten by giant alien spiders, or that give up in sector 5 after never getting a defense drone and spending all the money on repairs instead of shield upgrades, or that win with an average score like 4000 using standard tactics and no noteworthy weapons. 
Well, my one great stroke of luck was unlocking the crystal ship. The ftlgame.com forums are full of complaints about that process, but all the steps just happened in the right order for me without any specific trying.
And yup, the artillery beam ship does the same thing to me all the time. Plan for a defensive build where the arty beam does the killing, and that's the best way to get the game to give you all the best weapons or a teleporter and two Mantises.
Well, my one great stroke of luck was unlocking the crystal ship. The ftlgame.com forums are full of complaints about that process, but all the steps just happened in the right order for me without any specific trying.
And yup, the artillery beam ship does the same thing to me all the time. Plan for a defensive build where the arty beam does the killing, and that's the best way to get the game to give you all the best weapons or a teleporter and two Mantises.