How are these objects connected? Just via parenting, or via attributes? I'm guessing that the attributes cannot be accessed because it is already connected to that other object.
For my ultimate ability under animations, it takes place over the course of a long distance, would you want a camera parented to the root to "track" it?
I think this is a mix of "parent" constraints and "aim" constraints. If you youtube it, there are a number of tutorials at first glance. Piston Rigging in Maya, or something like that.
It is convenient to have a mesh made up a central body with its own uv/textures/materials (say, 3 materials, 2048 uv), upon which will be parented other parts/meshes each with 1-2 materials and 512 uvs?