Well, my personal favorite for a first mars landing would look like that:
The Hab and command module of the Earth-Mars spacecraft gets landed on Mars by use of a special Skycrane vehicle, which is just powerful enough for landing heavy loads on Mars and fly back to Mars orbit with light payloads. The hab/Command module contains no abort option of its own, instead it is meant to land close to a ERV. During reentry it should be protected by a inflatable heatshield, that is large enough to also protect the skycrane during reentry.
If no abort of the mission is needed, the next crew lands on Mars with the next rigid module. This way, the core modules of the mars base are rigid, and the inflatable modules can be used for storage or green houses.
The connection to the earth-Mars spacecraft is at the top of the Hab/Command module and design as such, that during transfer, the spacecraft could spin in yaw direction for providing artificial gravity. When the spacecraft reaches Mars, the hab command modules is detached and the skycrane maneuvers itself for docking with the HC automatically. The rest of the spacecraft remains in (medium) Mars orbit, acting as communication relay and is used again for return from Mars, but this time docking the ERV at its end.
Since the Skycrane is separate, the Earth-Mars ship could also contain cargo modules at it, that are delivered to the ground. For the first mission, the Skycrane would get refueled in Orbit, with fuel transported to Mars, so the payload would be reduced, but later missions could refuel on the surface of Mars, if in-situ fuel production is possible.
This concept doesn't contain any special assumptions on the technology, it should work with reduced performance with realistic technology as well as being still an economic option with "DG-Tech" fictional technology.
