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I'm learning German at a fairly low level so I ask this from the perspective of wanting to learn, not as a challenge.

Wouldn't "have to" be "müssen"? In what cases would you use "sollen" to have a similar meaning?

And "sollten" is either Präteritum or Konjunctive II, which as I understand it would both mean "should have", though in different senses. Why is that a more proper translation of "should"?

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Most of the times, "sollen" and "müssen" are interchangeable.

However, there are fine nuances between the words.

In that case, "müssen" is more direct and used as a command which has consequences when not followed while "sollen" is more of a prompt or demand that hasn't to be followed.

I think a better translation for 'sollen' would be 'shall'.

And "müssen" is "must".

Sollten is indeed Konjunktiv.

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