Yes you can still be very competitive without buying advance port.

Random port is available to be obtain provided you have the knowledge and troops to obtain it.

There are many other ways to relocate near a red without buying advance port.

In the last 2 years that I played this game; I never ported my war city. Why? well my main city was always in a prime location. Insteaded of porting our war city, we capture a level 10 npc and port, because a good defenders rarely ever need a full sets of walls =).