One could basically split the tax-province bonusses that Lübeck gets because of the COT to all the other cities the Hansa controles. Shouldn't that be kind of modable?
Before they added Merchant republics, that is how the Hanseatic League worked in EU. It was a bonus that any province on the baltic sea could get iirc, but irl, London and a couple other English cities and Novgorod (reachable by shallow water vessels) were all Hanseatic cities or had Hanseatic trade posts. Almost every city in Germany, Scandinavia, Livonia (TO in the game), and Russia reachable by water had some Hanseatic connection. The Merchant cities of Genoa and Venice were completely different entities. These cities made money for their own benefit, and all the profits were pooled into their own merchant states. If you wanted to put COT's in the strongest Hanseatic cities, Lubek would be a good choice, but so would Riga or Visby (Gotland) or even Malmo (Skane). Putting one in Novgorod works for balance reasons, but making them a Merchant republic at odds with the Hanse is just off. Novgorod had a Hanseatic trade post there and could have become a full fledged member city if it had wanted to.
