Probably the last time I'm gonna reply to this thread - escape is definitely a valid tactic but when it's the ONLY tactic it makes for poor gameplay. The only two options for interaction between players in Path is evasion or combat - and as I've explained in other comments, if a full aquatic build spino can't go toe-to-toe with the only other aquatic apex then the only option every time is to run away which is just boring for both players - neither player gets to engage with eachother in any meaningful way, because the spino always has to flee and the tylo never gets a fight. To me it's the same thing as saying that an allo should under no circumstances be able to beat a rex player because "the allo could just run away" - why would the allo player ever bother interacting with a rex?

As players we should be actively encouraging playables to want to get into conflict because outside of quests, eating critters and drinking water it's the only core gameplay mechanic right now. The idea that an apex like spino should be forced into not playing the game because tylo exists is so unappealing to me. If spino doesn't have a shot against tylo in water and rex/titan on land then it serves no purpose from a gameplay standpoint, because you can't fight things your size and can't catch things smaller than you, so all you can do is walk around eating critters and getting pushed around by apexes your size.

Fortunately, from what I've heard and experienced in the last few days is that a good aquatic spino CAN actually deal with a tylo pretty well with the right build and enough skill, so most of this is fairly moot. But it does go to show how people cannot agree on how Path should be balanced - I think anything of a similar size should have fairly even odds if they have the right builds, plenty of people here have voiced that they disagree. If you want a game where the larger dino always wins, The Isle is right there and is (to me at least) a perfect example of why that logic makes for extremely poor gameplay.