Motion sensor lights in addition to exterior lights are also effective. Lights that are unchanging may present certain shadow zone approaches, especially around shrubbery. A sensor-activated light going on makes a house too twitchy to approach. I have several, and use them randomly. Sometimes they “false alarm” on windy nights, but I don’t care. A house with lots of spotlights seen to be going off periodically is one that burglars will avoid. They don’t know when or where they will trip a light off.
Of course, if nobody inside is paying attention, invaders can make a close approach in plenty of time to force an entrance. If they have already decided to pull an armed, violent home invasion, lights won’t matter. Mainly, they discourage sneak thieves and burglars, not invaders who are already psyched up to do major violence.
A very cheap, yet extremely effective, device is a driveway sensor, sold at places like Radio Shack for $12. It is a simple IR laser reflected off a reflector. Run the wires underground to your house (low voltage so no conduit needed or deep burial) for a simple detector when something crosses its path. As you said, a few false alarms simply help to train you to respond to them and are not annoying.
With that, you can get creative and run lights that come on in that area. Even video cameras have gotten fairly cheap these days. Run a camera to that area and see what’s there. Toss in a speaker and microphone and talk to the idiot; that’ll scare the snot out of him. “Hi! Welcome to Matt’s shooting gallery. There is an apple next to your left foot. Please place it on top of your head and stand still. If I hit the apple you are free to leave, otherwise, we’ll just scoop what’s left of you into the crock pit.”