I've had a thought on this, AvH.
Instead of worrying about linking the explosion effect of the DC with the bubble cloud of the BOLD...
...why not just change the .tga textures for the DC so it transitions from an explosion to a bubble cloud then tweak the patricle settings to match?
That way you still have your bubbles without worrying about the BOLD's visual effects.
Forgive me if I'm wrong about this. It's just an idea that popped into my head with very little understanding of how these technical matters actually work on paper.
P.S. I would be honored to test your alpha version, good sir! I'll load it up as soon as I'm back in port from my 11th patrol.