If the first few landings of Mars involves machines and not people, then that will mean that those Starships are expendable. More cargo capacity could mean that a different landing approach could be employed. Why would you need the mostly empty Starship with all those engines and fuel tanks?
The Starship's lower sections could be jettisoned, which means less mass to soft land. That means less fuel, and less powerful engines. If the idea is to land 150 tons, with a gravity well of less than 40% of Earth's, then you'd need somewhere above 60 tons thrust to set the rump Starship down gently on Mars.
A battery of SuperDracos could the job.
The fact is, I don't really like the idea of landing the Starship in the manner in which the current plan envisages. Neither do some other folks who comment upon Musk's plans. There is a suggestion for a smaller lander, but to enclose a smaller lander would make the concept less efficient. Therefore, the idea for ditching the main engines and tanks before the final approach to landing.
The current plan has already been tested on Earth. The final flip maneuver preceeds the restart of the Raptors, with the final burn down to the landing. I say that the flip could be kept, but the Raptors could be ditched, with a brief burn to get the jettisoned part out of harm's way. The SuperDracos could take over to set the ship down on the surface.
Perhaps more than 150 tons could be landed. Future manned ships could keep the flip maneuver with an entire ship setting down. The first few manned ships would be not be prepared for returning either, so a different landing technique could be prepared for that too. Perhaps the same maneuver!
If there's some infrastructure already built up, then it wouldn't be necessary to keep the lower portion of the ship anyway.
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