Yeah, it's sad that the X-Wing series died. Damn greedy, evil LA, throwing it away for moronic titles like Battle for Naboo and Phantom Menace made to cash in on the new trilogy

.
TIE Fighter is the best simulator game out there. No other game comes even remotely close (OK, maybe Combat Flight Simulator 3 does).
X-Wing Alliance is awesome, too (I was a very busy modeller for it and I'm the one who started the Hoth project in progress now). XWA Upgrade makes it even better, as does that fan-made patch that makes everything a bit more realistic and fun (by far).
But yeah, I always wondered how it could be that a single fighter could single-handedly destroy the Executor...