Few questions if you dont mind.
Alright last answers for the day (Then you get to start reading on your own 
)
- I prefer to use the ST presence and not the nest auto away, so do i go into the nest app and disable anything to do with auto assist etc?
- Yes - In Nest Set Phone to No in Home/Away Assist
- If i do that, will ST know when to switch to away, even though i have disabled the home/away feature in Nest. ( i thought ST needed to know that )
- No, ST (directly) is only going to set your Mode in ST to Away (Based on you creating a Routine)
- NST Manager (SmartApp) if you configure the NST Mode Automation to set your Nest to Away when Mode is Away and Home when Mode is Home will then automatically update Nest (Not ST by itself, but by NST Manager Automation Rule)
- I also have a few lights turn on when arriving, but how do you set that up to only happen when it actually needs lights? Lux setting? I use a Fibaro for LUX readings.
- Install WebCoRE and create Pistons instead of creating Routines from within ST for your lighting needs and simplify it not by LUX, but by Sunset.
- The welcome message. Love the idea of that. What speaker is this?
- Bose Soundtouch 10 - I have several of them. 2 of them are connected directly to Echo Dots via aux cable. An audio message is sent to them based on several criteria (qualifications met) in my system.
Do not take on number 3 and 4 yet. Get the entire basics and foundational understanding of setting up your system with the Routines that you are going to create (or have already created) to make sure that you are setting your SHM Status and your Mode to all compliment each other when Leaving and Arriving and at bedtime/Nighttime/Armed(Home) Status and any other basic lighting Routines / Rules / Automations that you create that run in addition and based on those Modes/Settings. You have to understand those pieces 100% or you are going to wind up with a mess. You need to start from left to right and then when that all makes sense, you move further right and integrate NST Manager and then you can set up the Automations within that SmartApp that runs and compliments the ST System based on the Modes we discussed. If you go all over the map to soon, and try to do too much without mapping out how everything changes in your system based on what you are automating up front, it will cause further chaos and calamity. Trust me, one step at a time and you will come out ahead and more happy