Hide is the only starting ability that lets you get away from Baddies by gaining the Hidden keyword. If you have a baddie in your player area or in the global area, being hidden at the end of your turn means that the baddies in your player area are dismissed and that you take zero damage from global baddies. (Remember that dismissed entropy card baddies go in the dismissed pile, not in the discard pile. Sure, they're gone for now, but that doesn't mean they've forgotten about you.)
As the baddies get baddie-er, it becomes harder to hide; you have to take a -1 modifier for every level of baddie that might be looking for you. Also, once you play a Hide, playing anything (other than a Peek) will take away your Hidden status. Since Hidden only affects Baddies if you end your turn with it, using Hide to escape means playing it as the last thing you do on your turn.
Of course, if a friend can help you find a good hiding place, that would certainly help out. Hide is a Survival ability, so it benefits from the +5 modifier that a successful Spot test could provide.
Even if there are no baddies around, there are still cases in which Hide can be useful. Of course, whenever a card says "You may hide. If successful..." is one case in which you can Hide. Another is if you have a Peek action card and playing it would benefit the team (that is, there are unrevealed spaces that you could Peek at).