Nexus

The nexus is the heart of a protoss base.

Overview
The nexus is a mammoth, pyramidal structure that looms over each and every protoss settlement. It serves as a psychic anchor, allowing the protoss to access the psionic matrix from even across the galaxy. The nexus also manufactures probes.

StarCraft
The nexus serves as the hub of any protoss base. Unlike most other protoss buildings it can be warped in without a pylon. It constructs probes and serves as a processing center for minerals and vespene gas.

Development
In the StarCraft beta, the stargate was originally known as the nexus.

StarCraft II
The nexus remains much the same in terms of cost, appearance and function in StarCraft II. The protoss core macromanagement ability has been moved here.

Chrono Boost gives the player the choice of affecting the nexus, gateway, stargate, robotics facility or boosting upgrades at other structures&mdash;almost any building in the protoss base can be an option.

One additional attribute is that it can now warp in the mothership, or in the case of Heart of the Swarm, the mothership core.

Heart of the Swarm
The mothership core is built from the nexus in StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm. The mothership is no longer produced from the nexus, instead being built from the mothership core.

Development
The nexus went through many small changes. As a primary structure, the scale was adjusted often, specifically the pyramid shape in the middle. The only significant overhaul was done with the intention of increasing the polycount on the curved surfaces around the structure.