The Protoss Phase Prism made a brief appearance in the Starcraft 2 Developer’s Video where we saw it being used as a backup power plant in replacement of a pylon, as well as a mobile deployment platform, allowing units to warp in anywhere on the battlefield. Here’s some more information, from IGN Magazine:

The new phase prism will serve both as a troop transport and a mobile power pylon, allowing you to restore functionality to a base when your pylons are destroyed by raiders or when you build away from your base. Combined with the warp-in tech, you’ll be able to use them to create an army anywhere on the battlefield.

I’m not too sure what they mean by “troop transport”; perhaps with a shuttle-like capability? The official description says, “The Phase Prism’s robotic mind is contained in an advanced crystal lattice created with psionic manufacturing techniques. The crystal computer is able to manipulate matter and energy with a precision that an ordinary organic mind could not even comprehend. Creatures and objects can be transformed into energy, imprinted in the crystal lattice; the operation can then be reversed to reconfigure the transported units into matter, disembarking them from the transport.”

In any case, having this mobile power plant somewhat negates the point of attacking pylons first to bring down the power grid. In addition, this should be quite useful when expanding to a new base, allowing you to warp in support units as well as providing a power plant for new buildings.

 Here’s a Blizzard artist’s rendition.

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