can someone tell me if beating snipers on a token launch will work via alchemy websockets for pending blocks and submitting a order with tons of max gas? or is it more complicated than this?

Nope, won't work, snipers get block 0, so if you can't get 0 you might as well not try it. (and reacting to an event is minimum 1, but more often than not 2 blocks away).

I like to build and mess with crypto.

Full-stack dev

how do people get faster on Base without direct access to the sequencer logic?

All I can say is the sequencer has nothing to do with it.

hahaha to be clear i have no interest in actually sniping anything im just interested in the workarounds required for the centralized sequencer, but fair point

I’m sorry, but this is something you’ll have to figure out yourself.
For now, there’s no straightforward solution, and honestly, it’s probably best left unexplored to avoid giving people ideas.