Once I've been spotted by The Alien, is my death inevitable?

Question

I've had quite a few encounters with The Alien, now, and I've noticed that, unlike Working Joes (which you can just clobber over the head and run away from), or survivors (who will run away as soon as you point your revolver at them), as soon as he spots me, he will run after me and kill me.

Now, I'm wondering: is there any chance of getting away from the Alien once he has spotted me? I can't outrun him, as he's far faster, I can't hide in vents or cupboards, as he'll just drag me out, and I can't just crouch and hope for the best, since he's not stupid. Are there any tactics that would allow me to survive an encounter with the Alien, given that he's just spotted me?

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Note: I've also noticed that the only thing that seems to (albeit mildly) scare off the Alien is fire (I'm referring to the gas explosion when he runs away), but, obviously, I don't have a source of fire.

Answer 1

In my experience, most of the time this is true.

However... there is one item that you don't have yet that can be used to drive the Alien back:

The Flamethrower

Unfortunately, its not infinite so once you have it you still have to use it carefully. Also, when the Alien is scared off, if you're between it and the closest ceiling hatch, it WILL knock you over when it flees, dealing a fair amount of damage.