Last time I was in Germany, I had great difficulty trying to do this. As you've indicated, the house number is not like a street address. It's similar to assigning a number to every house in the village, but, I can't tell you if there's any rhyme or reason to the numbering system.
I don't know about Germany, but in Bohemia, the house number system was actually for conscription purposes. I don't know if there would be any old military maps or documents describing this or not.
Rose Green
(researching HARTWIG and BRUNIGES/BRUNYER)