(Images coming soon...)

Introduction

In the last couple of builds of mine, I've experimented with development of a fully functional EOTS (Electrical-Optical Targeting System) for Simpleplanes. For a long time I've seen no other way to properly do this, and EVERYONE ELSE who's made an EOTS of their own, only did this for display purposes; such as GuyFolk's F-35B, for instance.

And let me tell you, it took me a LONG TIME to crack the code on this technique, so to speak. And I don't want anyone else to have to take so long to figure it out themselves, or just not do it at all.

So, without further ado, let's get started!

What Does EOTS Do?

EOTS allows the pilot in first person POV to look at any target and fire a missile. All they do is turn their heads to face a target, and that's a lock! Attack helicopters have something similar to this, and so do various late 4th gen and 5th gen fighters and beyond.

Step 1

Place the PRIMARY FLIGHT COMPUTER (PFC) onto a hinge rotator, and said hinge rotator on a small rotator. Both rotators must be facing up, and the hinge rotator's rotational direction should face front to back. The bottom of the small rotator should be connected to the aircraft itself. Set the Range of Motion of both rotators to 10°. Speed is up to the builder.

Step 2

Place a SECONDARY FLIGHT COMPUTER (SFC) onto the aircraft. (The PFC must remain as the primary piece.) On the SFC, open its Output settings and set a designation for everything it offers, from the rates of Pitch, Roll and Yaw, to Heading, to Pitch and Roll Angles, etc. You will use these to replace all controls on your aircraft that these outputs correspond to.

Step 3

Highlight the CAMERA you have set as your First Person POV, and open its Output settings. You will see outputs for LookPitch and LookYaw. Set a designation for each of those 2 outputs. Also make sure to go to its basic settings and set EVERYTHING to no, except for “Cockpit Camera”.

Step 4

Use the outputs from the CAMERA as the inputs for both of the rotators attached to the PFC. The output of the CAMERA's LookYaw must bind to the horizontal rotator, while LookPitch must bind to the hinge rotator for looking up and down. Set inversions as needed.

Step 5

Set outputs for BOTH rotators. These will be used in your Variable Setters list to cancel out the moving PFC's adverse effects on AngleOfAttack and AngleOfSlip. (NOTE: I use HEOTS for horizontal, and VEOTS for vertical.)

Step 6

Go to your Variable Setters list and use the 4 following:

First Variable Name: SumAOA

Expression: ((abs(AngleOfSlip)) > (abs(AngleOfAttack))) | ((abs(HEOTS)) > (abs(VEOTS))) ? (abs(AngleOfSlip)) : (abs(AngleOfAttack))

Second Variable Name: SumEOTS

Expression: (abs(HEOTS)) > (abs(VEOTS)) ? (abs(HEOTS)) : (abs(VEOTS))

Third Variable Name: EOTSAngle

Expression: SumAOA - SumEOTS

Fourth Variable Name: AoSEOTS

Expression: (abs(EOTSAngle) >= 90) ? -1 : 1

Putting all of these together will allow you to use EOTSAngle to replace AngleOfAttack, and AoSEOTS to replace AngleOfSlip in all of your controls respectively. You will be able to rotate your PFC and lock onto anything you look at without affecting the way your aircraft flies.

Why was This Hard to Achieve?

Making this work properly requires the PRIMARY FLIGHT COMPUTER to be on rotators. But not only does said computer decide missile locking, but it also calculates everything else on an aircraft: the rates and angles of pitch, roll and yaw/heading, angle of attack, angle of slip, etc.

Flaws

Doing this will affect the in-game attitude ball and compass you always see on the screen. While you can painstakingly correct the inputs on labels and gauges within your cockpit, I unfortunately cannot fix those aforementioned in-game, on-screen instruments.

Conclusion

If anyone else has a better way to do this that doesn't involve modifying missiles or having no functioning EOTS at all, please let me know.

Otherwise, hope this helps!