Sorry for the necrobump, this is the most recently bumped FTL thread I could find. I recently got the itch to play this again, and man, I keep forgetting how engaging and fun this game is. Definitely game of the forever.
Still, the bump isn't about that. It's because after several years of looking, I've finally found a game that, even if not nearly as incredible as FTL is, it has gameplay that is quite reminiscent of it, and is also very fun. It's Convoy, a sort of FTL meets Mad Max / Car Wars, and even though it was already mentioned in Toma's thread of indies last year, I think it deserves a bit more exposure here.
It's definitely and unabashedly (literally, the devs themselves recognize as much) based on FTL, going so far as to mimic the look and feel, not just of the game but of many of its menus, right down to using the exact same font, but it's genuinely its own thing as far as combat and traversal are concerned.
It's also on sale on the Humble Store (you get DRM free and Steam versions) at half price (6.50 or 7.50$) for the next 11 days. I impulse bought it and have been having quite some fun with it, with zero regrets.