You don't need starter packs but cards on market cost either hive or sim. But return is good about 300% ROI. You get daily income in SIM. Once can start with 1 or 10 Hive also. Or as much as he want.
For some starter cities of 100 Hive check out @luca-legend posts.
At staei would recommend to buy cards from market directly than hoing for random cards.
If you need any help feel free to ping me.